THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


A  HISTORY  OF  BELGIUM 

FROM  THE  ROMAN  INVASION 
TO  THE  PRESENT    DAY 


ALBERT  I. 


Photo  Laiigfier. 


Frontispiece. 


A    HISTORY    OF 
BELGIUM  . 

FROM   THE   ROMAN   INVASION    TO 
THE   PRESENT   DAY 


BY 

EMILE    CAMMAERTS 


WITH  36  ILLUSTRATIONS  AND  9  MAPS 


NEW  YORK 
D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 

1921 


(All  rights  reserved) 

PRINTED  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN 


College 
Library 


4- 


PREFACE 

WE  possess  happily,  nowadays,  a  few  standard  books, 
of  great  insight  and  impartiality,  which  allow  us  to 
form  a  general  idea  of  the  development  of  the 
Belgian  nation  without  breaking  fresh  ground.  The 
four  volumes  of  Henri  Pirenne's  Histoire  de  Belgique 
carry  us  as  far  as  the  Peace  of  Miinster,  and,  among 
others,  such  works  as  Vanderlinen's  Belgium,  issued 
recently  by  the  Oxford  University  Press,  and  a 
treatise  on  Belgian  history  by  F.  Van  Kalken  (1920) 
supply  a  great  deal  of  information  on  the  modern 
period.  To  these  works  the  author  has  been  chiefly 
indebted  in  writing  the  present  volume.  He  felt  the 
need  for  placing  the  conclusions  of  modern  Belgian 
historians  within  reach  of  British  readers,  and  believed 
that,  though  he  might  not  claim  any  very  special 
qualifications  to  deal  with  Belgian  history,  his  know- 
ledge of  England  would  allow  him  to  present  his 
material  in  the  way  most  interesting  to  the  English- 
speaking  public. 

Belgium  is  neither  a  series  of  essays  nor  a 
systematic  text-book.  Chronological  sequence  is 
preserved,  and  practically  all  important  events  are 
recorded  in  their  appointed  time,  but  special  stress 
has  been  laid  on  some  characteristic  features  of 
Belgian  civilization  and  national  development  which 


1148830 


6  BELGIUM 

are  of  general  interest  and  bear  on  the  history  of 
Europe  as  a  whole. 

The  author  wishes  to  express  his  sincere  thanks  to 
his  friend,  Professor  Van  der  Essen,  who  has  been 
good  enough  to  revise  his  work.  He  is  also  indebted 
to  Messrs.  Van  Oest  &  Co.  for  allowing  him  to 
reproduce  some  pictures  belonging  to  I' Album 
Historique  de  la  Belgigue,  and  to  the  Phototypie 
Beige  (Ph.B.),  St6  anonyme,  Etterbeek,  Bruxelles, 
and  other  holders  of  copyright  for  providing  him 
with  valuable  illustrations. 


CONTENTS 

PACK 

PREFACE  .  .  .  .  .5 

INTRODUCTION.  .  .  .  .  •       X5 

CHAPTER   I 

THE   COAL   WOOD  .  .  .  .  .29 

Celts  and  Germans — Roman  conquest — Roads  of  Roman 
civilization — First  Christianization — Germanic  invasion — 
Natural  obstacle  presented  by  the  "  Silva  Carbonaria  " — 
Origins  of  racial  and  linguistic  division. 

CHAPTER  II 
FROM   SAINT   AMAND   TO   CHARLEMAGNE  .  -37 

Prankish  capital  transferred  from  Tournai  to  Paris — Second 
Christianization  —  St.  Amand  —  Restoration  of  the  old 
bishoprics — Romanization  of  the  Franks  and  germani- 
zation  of  the  Walloons — Unification  under  Charlemagne 
— Aix-la-Chapelle,  centre  of  the  Empire — First  period  of 
economic  and  intellectual  efflorescence. 

CHAPTER  III 
LOTHARINGIA   AND    FLANDERS   .  .  .  .47 

Partition  after  Charlemagne  —  Treaty  of  Verdun  —  The 
frontier  of  the  Scheldt — Struggle  of  feudal  lords  against 
the  central  power — The  Normans. 

CHAPTER  IV 

R£GNER  LONG  NECK    .  .  .  .  .52 

Policy  of  the  Lotharingian  princes — Influence  of  the 
German  bishops — Alliance  with  Flanders  against  the 
Emperor — Decadence  of  the  central  power  —  Religious 
reform  of  Ge'rard  de  Brogne — The  Clunisians  and  the 
struggle  for  the  investitures — The  first  crusade. 

7 


8  BELGIUM 

CHAPTER    V 

PAGE 

BALDWIN   THE   BEARDED  .  .  .  .      60 

Policy  of  the  counts  of  Flanders — Imperial  Flanders — 
The  English  alliance  —  First  prospect  of  unification  — 
Robert  the  Frisian. 

CHAPTER  VI 

THE   BELFRIES  .  .  .  .  .  .66 

Origin  of  the  Communes ;  trade  and  industry — Resistance 
of  feudal  lords  ;  Cambrai — Protection  given  by  the  counts 
of  Flanders  and  the  dukes  of  Brabant — Social  transforma- 
tion extending  to  the  country-side — The  meaning  of  the 
belfries. 

CHAPTER    VII 

THE  GOLDEN   SPURS       .  .  .  .  -78 

Attraction  of  Flanders  on  the  rest  of  the  country — Attempts 
at  maintaining  neutrality  between  France  and  England — 
Thierry  and  Philippe  d' Alsace — Baldwin  IX — Ferrand  of 
Portugal — Bouvines — Increasing  French  influence — Flemish 
reaction  —  "  Matines  Brugeoises  " — Consequences  of  the 
Battle  of  Courtrai — Edward  III  and  Van  Artevelde. 

CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  TOURNAI  .  .  .  .88 

Religious  spirit  of  Belgium  in  the  Middle  Ages — The 
Romanesque  churches — Introduction  of  Gothic  ;  Period  of 
transition,  early  Gothic,  secondary  period,  third  period — 
French  and  Flemish  languages  during  the  Middle  Ages— 
Picard  writers  in  Walloon  Flanders — First  translations  and 
chronicles  in  French — Origin  of  Flemish  letters,  Willem's 
Reinaert,  Van  Maerlant. 

CHAPTER  IX 

THE   GREAT  DUKES   OF   THE   WEST          .  .  .    IO2 

Decline  of  the  Communes — Policy  of  the  Burgundian 
dukes :  Philip  the  Bold,  John  the  Fearless,  Philip  the 
Good — Territorial  unification  and  political  centralization 
— Philip's  external  policy —Charles  the  Bold — Dream  of 
a  new  central  Empire. 


CONTENTS  9 

CHAPTER   X 

PAGE 

THE  TOWN   HALLS  .  .  .  .  .112 

The  meaning  of  Belgium's  Gothic  Town  Halls — Result  of 
a  compromise  between  centralization  and  local  liberties 
— Decline  of  the  cloth  industry — Economic  prosperity 
under  the  new  regime — Transformation  of  trade — Antwerp 
succeeds  Bruges. 

CHAPTER  XI 

THE   ADORATION   OF  THE   LAMB  .  .  .124 

Civilization  under  Burgundian  rule — French  and  Flemish  ; 
bilingualism  —  Flemish  letters  :  Jean  Boendaele,  Ruys- 
broeck — The  Brothers  of  the  Common  Life — Writers  in 
French  :  Jean  Le  Bel,  Froissart,  Chastellain — Develop- 
ment of  music  :  Dufay,  Ockeghem,  etc. — Life  in  fifteenth- 
century  Belgium — The  early  "  Flemish  School  of  Painting" 
— Its  place  in  the  history  of  Art — The  brothers  Van  Eyck — 
Origins  of  the  school ;  sculpture,  illuminating. 


CHAPTER  XII 

HAPSBURG  AND   BURGUNDY         .  .  .  .140 

Reaction  after  the  death  of  Charles  the  Bold— The  "  Great 
Privilege "  of  Mary  of  Burgundy — Her  marriage  with 
Maximilian ;  its  consequences  —  Conflict  between  Bur- 
gundian and  Hapsburgian  policies — Philip  the  Handsome 
— Margaret  of  Austria — Accession  of  Charles  to  the  Empire 
— Projects  of  founding  a  separate  kingdom — Margaret's 
second  governorship. 

CHAPTER  XIII 
THE   LAST  STAGE   OF   CENTRALIZATION  .  -154 

Mary  of  Hungary — Revolt  of  Ghent — Complete  unification 
— Augsburg  transaction — Pragmatic  Sanction — Abdication 
of  Charles  V. 

CHAPTER   XIV 

ANTWERP  ......    163 

Development  of  modern  trade — Rural  industry — Humanism 
and  Lutheranism — The  placards  — Anabaptism— Calvinism. 


IO  BELGIUM 

CHAPTER    XV 

PAGE 

THE   BEGGARS    .  .  .  .  .  .    174 

Philip  II — Marguerite  of  Parma  and  the  Consulta — Re- 
sistance of  the  Council  of  State — The  "Compromise" 
— The  Iconoclasts — Catholic  reaction. 

CHAPTER    XVI 
SEPARATION        .  .  .  .  .  .182 

North  and  South — The  Duke  of  Alba  and  the  Council  of 
Blood  —  Requesens  —  "  Spanish  Fury  "  —  Pacification  of 
Ghent — Don  Juan — Policy  of  Orange — Archduke  Matthias 
— The  Duke  of  Anjou — The  "Malcontents" — Confeder- 
ation of  Arras — Union  of  Utrecht — "  French  Fury  " — The 
fall  of  Antwerp. 

CHAPTER  XVII 
DREAM   OF   INDEPENDENCE         ....    204 

Albert  and  Isabella — Catholic  reaction — Siege  of  Ostend — 
Policy  of  the  Spanish  kings — The  Walloon  League — The 
States-General. 

CHAPTER  XVIII 
THE   TWELVE    YEARS*   TRUCE      .  .  .  .213 

Period  of  reconstruction — Ruin  of  Antwerp — Revival  of 
industry  and  agriculture — Social  conditions  under  Albert 
and  Isabella — Influence  of  the  Church. 

CHAPTER  XIX 
RUBENS  .  .  .  .  .  .221 

Contrast  between  Flemish  Art  in  the  fifteenth  and  seven- 
teenth centuries — Italian  influence — Intellectual  action  of 
the  Jesuits — Neglect  of  Flemish — Popular  Art :  Breughel, 
Jordaens. 

CHAPTER  XX 
POLITICAL   DECADENCE   UNDER   SPAIN    .  .  .230 

Situation  of  the  Southern  Netherlands  between  the  United 
Provinces  and  France  —  Projects  of  Partition  —  Miinster 
Treaty  —  Wars  of  the  Spanish  Succession  —  The  Anglo- 
Batavian  "t  Conference — Treaty  of  Utrecht — The  Barrier 
system. 


CONTENTS  1 1 

CHAPTER  XXI 

PAGE 

THE   OSTEND   COMPANY  .  .  .  .245 

Economic  Renaissance  under  the  Austrian  regime — Efforts 
to  liberate  Belgian  trade — War  of  Austrian  Succession — 
Charles  de  Lorraine  —  Intellectual  decadence  —  Popular 
restlessness. 

CHAPTER  XXII 

THE   BRABAN9ONNE   REVOLUTION  .  .  -254 

Joseph  II  and  Philip  II — Strength  of  the  Burgundian 
tradition — Suppression  of  the  Barrier — The  ' '  War  of  the 
Cauldron  " — The  emperor's  internal  reforms — Popular 
resistance  :  Van  der  Noot  and  Vonck— The  "  Etats  Bel- 
giquesUnis" — "Statists"  and  "Vonckists" — TheReichen- 
bach  Convention — Restoration  of  the  Austrian  re*gime. 

CHAPTER  XXIII 
LIBERTY,    EQUALITY,    FRATERNITY  .  .  .    268 

Jemappes — Excesses  of  the  "  Sans  Culottes  " — Neerwinden 
— Treaty  of  The  Hague — Policy  of  the  Convention  towards 
occupied  territory  —  Annexation  —  The  "War  of  the 
Peasants  '' — Napoleonic  rule — The  Vienna  Treaty. 

CHAPTER    XXIV 

BLACK,    YELLOW   AND   RED  .  .  .  -279 

The  Joint  Kingdom— Causes  of  failure — Belgian  grievances 
— Policy  of  William  I — Reconciliation  of  Catholics  and 
Liberals— The  September  days. 


CHAPTER  XXV 
THE   SCRAP  OF   PAPER  .....    289 

The  Conference  of  London — Attitude  of  the  Belgian 
delegates— The  "Bases  of  Separation" — The  Luxemburg 
question — The  XVIII  Articles— Prince  Leopold— Dutch 
invasion— The  XXIV  Articles — Their  final  acceptance — 
Guaranteed  neutrality. 


1 2  BELGIUM 

CHAPTER    XXVI 

PAGE 

NEUTRAL   INDEPENDENCE  .  .  .  .301 

The  meaning  of  neutrality — The  question  of  national 
defence — Risquons  Tout — The  policy  of  Napoleon  III 
— The  entrenched  camp  of  Antwerp — British  action  in 
1870— Leopold  II  and  Emile  Banning — Liege  and  Namur 
— Military  reform. 

CHAPTER  XXVII 
ECONOMIC   RENAISSANCE  .  .  .  .    315 

The  Belgian  Constitution  —  Influence  of  neutrality  on 
internal  politics — Struggle  between  Liberals  and  Catholics 
—The  "  School  War"— The  Labour  Party— The  Franchise 
— Economic  prosperity  :  agriculture,  industry,  trade — The 
opening  of  the  Scheldt — The  search  for  colonial  outlet — 
Leopold  II  and  the  Congo  Free  State — The  Belgian  Congo. 

CHAPTER  XXVIII 

INTELLECTUAL   RENAISSANCE     .  .  .  •    331 

Architecture  and  Sculpture  in  modern  Belgium  —  The 
Modern  School  of  painting  —  A  National  School  of 
Literature  in  French  and  Flemish — The  Flemish  movement. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 
CONCLUSION        ......    342 

Part  played  by  Belgium  in  the  Great  War — German 
occupation — The  "Making  of  a  Nation" — The  "Resis- 
tance of  a  Nation  " — Result  of  the  Treaty  of  Versailles — 
Future  of  Belgium. 


INDEX   .......   349 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

ALBERT   I             .....  Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

CLOTH    HALL,   YPRES       .                 .                 .                  .  .66 

CASTLE   OF   THE  COUNTS,   GHENT             .                 .  -67 

CLOTH    HALL   AND   BELFRY,    BRUGES        .                 .  -75 

SEAL   OF   THE   TOWN   OF   DAMME                .                  .  .       78 

SEAL   OF   GUY   DE   DAMPIERRE                    .                  .  .       78 

TOURNAI    CATHEDRAL   .                  .                  .                  .  .88 

BRONZE   FONT,    ST.    BARTHOLOMEW,    LI&GE          .  -91 

SAINTE   GUDULE,    BRUSSELS         .                  .                  .  -93 

PHILIP  THE   GOOD           .                 .                 .                 .  .105 

CHARLES   THE   BOLD       .                 .                 .                 .  .109 

TOWN    HALL,    BRUGES     .                 .                 .                 .  .112 

THE   FIRST   ANTWERP   EXCHANGE             .                 .  .121 

TOWN    HALL,    OUDENARDE            .                 .                 .  .124 

THE   ADORATION   OF   THE  LAMB                 .                 .  -133 

THE   ADORATION   OF   THE   LAMB                .                 .  .    135 
PLOURANT           ......    137 

MARY   OF   BURGUNDY    .                 .                 .                 .  .140 

MAXIMILIAN    I  ...                                   .  142 

PHILIP   THE    FAIR             .                  .                  .                  .  .146 

JUANA   OF   CASTILE         .                  .                  .                  .  .146 

CHARLES   V                           .                 .                 .                 .  -IS* 

MARGARET   OF   AUSTRIA                 .                  .                  .  .    152 


14  BELGIUM 

FACING  PAGE 

THE  INFANTA  ISABELLA  .  .  .  .204 

ARCHDUKE  ALBERT      .....  204 

PULPIT  OF  SAINTE  GUDULE,  BRUSSELS  .  .225 

THE  MASSACRE  OF  THE  INNOCENTS  (BREUGHEL)         .  229 
PROCLAMATION  OF  THE  PEACE  OF  MUNSTER   .  .236 

JOSEPH  II         ......  254 

VAN  DER  NOOT  .....  262 

SCENE  OF  THE  BRABANCONNE  REVOLUTION     .  .265 

LEOPOLD  I  .  .  .  .  .  293 

LEOPOLD  II  .  .  .  .  .  310 

PALACE  OF  JUSTICE,  BRUSSELS  .  .  •  332 

"THE  PUDDLER"  (MEUNIER)  ....  334 


LIST   OF   MAPS 

BELGIUM  IN  ROMAN  TIMES      .  .  .  .29 

DIVISION  OF  CHARLEMAGNE'S  EMPIRE  .  -47 

FEUDAL  BELGIUM         .  .  .  .  -52 

THE  NETHERLANDS  UNDER  THE  RULE  OF  THE  DUKES 

OF  BURGUNDY       .  .  .  .  .  IO2 

BELGIUM  UNDER  THE  RULE  OF  THE  KINGS  OF  SPAIN  204 
BELGIUM   UNDER   THE   RULE   OF  THE   EMPERORS   OF 

AUSTRIA      ......    245 

BELGIUM   UNDER   FRENCH   RULE  .  .  .    268 

THE   UNITED    KINGDOM   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  .    279 

MODERN   BELGIUM    (TREATIES   OF    1830-39    AND    1919)    289 


INTRODUCTION 

THE  history  of  the  Belgian  nation  is  little  known 
in  England.  This  ignorance,  or  rather  this  neglect, 
may  seem  strange  if  we  consider  the  frequent 
relations  which  existed  between  the  two  countries 
from  the  early  Middle  Ages.  It  is,  however,  easy 
enough  to  explain,  and  even  to  justify.  The 
general  idea  has  been  for  a  long  time  that  the 
existence  of  Belgium,  as  a  nation,  dated  from 
its  independence,  and  that  previous  to  1830  such 
a  thing  as  Belgian  history  did  not  even  exist. 
All  through  feudal  times  we  are  aware  of  the 
existence  of  the  County  of  Flanders,  of  the 
Duchy  of  Brabant,  and  of  many  other  principalities, 
but,  in  no  official  act,  does  the  term  "  Belgique " 
occur.  Even  after  the  unification  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  when  the  country  came  under  the  rule 
of  the  Dukes  of  Burgundy,  the  notion  of  a  distinct 
nationality,  such  as  the  French  or  the  British, 
remains  hidden  to  the  superficial  student,  the 
Netherlands  forming  merely  a  part  of  the  rich 
possessions  of  the  most  powerful  vassals  of  France. 
Through  modern  times  the  Belgian  provinces,  "les 
provinces  belgiques "  as  they  were  called  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  pass  under  the  rule  of  the  kings 
of  Spain,  of  the  emperors  of  Austria  and  of  the 
French  Republic,  to  be  finally  merged,  after  the  fall 

15 


1 6  BELGIUM 

of  Napoleon,  into  the  Kingdom  of  the  Netherlands. 
The  word  "  Belgium,"  as  a  noun,  is  only  found  in  a 
few  books ;  "  belgique "  is  a  mere  adjective  applied 
to  the  southern  portion  of  the  Netherlands. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  Belgian  official 
historians  of  the  old  school  did  very  little  to  dispel 
this  wrong  impression.  In  their  patriotic  zeal  they 
endeavoured  to  picture  Belgium  as  struggling 
valiantly  all  the  time  against  foreign  oppression. 
They  laid  great  stress  on  Caesar's  words :  "  Of  all 
the  Gauls  the  Belgians  are  the  bravest,"  and  pictured 
the  popular  risings  of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
centuries  in  the  same  light  as  the  1830  revolution. 
If  we  are  to  believe  them,  the  Belgian  people  must 
have  been  conscious  from  their  origin  of  their 
unity.  They  considered  national  princes,  such  as 
the  Burgundian  Dukes,  in  the  same  light  as 
Philip  1 1  or  the  Austrian  Emperors,  and,  instead  of 
clearing  the  air,  added  to  the  confusion.  Their 
interpretation  of  history  according  to  the  principles 
of  national  liberty  of  the  Romantic  period  could  not 
be  taken  seriously,  and  the  idea  prevailed  that,  if 
the  Belgian  nation  was  not  merely  a  creation  of 
European  diplomacy,  its  existence  could  only  be 
confirmed  by  the  future,  and  rested  on  but  frail 
foundations  in  the  past. 

This  idea  was  strengthened  by  the  knowledge 
that  the  country  possessed  neither  strong  natural 
frontiers,  like  Great  Britain,  France,  Italy  or  Spain, 
nor  the  bond  created  by  unity  of  language  like 
Germany.  Other  European  countries,  it  is  true, 
like  Holland  or  Poland,  did  not  constitute  strong 
geographical  units  and  lacked  definite  boundaries, 


INTRODUCTION  17 

but  their  people  talked  at  least  the  same  idiom 
and  belonged,  as  far  as  the  word  may  be  used 
in  a  broad  sense,  to  the  same  race.  Others,  like 
Switzerland,  were  divided  between  various  languages, 
but  possessed  geographical  unity.  Belgium  could 
not  claim  any  of  these  distinctive  features.  Her 
boundaries  remained  widely  open  in  all  directions. 
From  the  cultivated  plains  of  Flanders  to  the  wild 
hills  of  the  Ardennes  she  offered  the  greatest  variety 
of  physical  aspects.  What  is  more,  her  people  were 
nearly  equally  divided,  by  a  line  running  from  the 
south  of  Ypres  to  the  north  of  Lie*ge,  between  two 
different  languages,  two  different  races.  According 
to  recognized  standards,  the  very  existence  of  the 
Belgian  nation  was  a  paradox,  and  though  the 
history  of  mankind  presents  many  similar  contrasts 
between  the  hasty  conclusions  of  the  untrained  mind 
and  the  tangible  reality  of  facts,  these  cannot  be 
recognized  at  first,  and  require  a  deeper  knowledge 
of  the  past  than  that  which  can  be  provided  by 
the  study  of  warlike  conflicts  and  political 
changes. 

It  was  therefore  left  to  the  modern  school  of 
Belgian  historians,  and  more  especially  to  Professor 
Pirenne,  of  Ghent,  to  place  the  study  of  the  origin 
of  the  Belgian  nation  in  its  right  perspective  and 
to  show  that,  in  spite  of  diversity  of  race  and 
language,  lack  of  natural  boundaries  and  centuries 
of  foreign  domination,  Belgian  unity  was  based 
on  deep  -  rooted  traditions  and  possessed  strong 
characteristics  in  every  department  of  human  activity 
which  could  be  recognized  from  the  early  Middle 
Ages  to  the  modern  period.  By  a  close  study  of 

2 


1 8  BELGIUM 

the  economic  and  intellectual  life  of  the  people  and 
of  their  institutions,  Pirenne  and  his  disciples  made 
evident  what  every  artist,  every  writer  had  already 
realized,  that,  in  spite  of  all  appearances,  Belgian 
unity  had  never  been  impaired  in  the  past  by  the 
language  barrier,  and  that  both  parts  of  the  country 
presented  common  characteristics,  common  customs, 
and  common  institutions  which  no  foreign  rule  was 
able  to  eradicate.  They  showed  furthermore  that 
these  characteristics,  determined  by  the  common 
interests  and  aspirations  of  the  whole  people,  were 
so  strong  that  they  inspired  the  policy  of  many 
foreign  princes  who,  by  their  birth,  would  naturally 
have  been  led  to  disregard  them.  They  may  still 
be  found  in  the  country's  old  charters,  in  ancient 
chronicles,  in  the  works  of  the  so-called  Flemish 
School  of  painting,  and  in  every  monument  of  the 
past  which  has  survived  the  devastation  of  war.  To 
these  witnesses  Belgian  historians  will  not  appeal  in 
vain,  when  they  endeavour  to  show  that  the  origins 
of  Belgian  national  unity  may  be  sought  as  far  back 
as  those  of  any  other  nation  in  Europe,  and  that 
if  more  exposed  than  her  powerful  neighbours  to  the 
vicissitudes  of  war,  Belgium  always  succeeded  in 
preserving,  throughout  her  darkest  days,  some  living 
token  of  her  former  prosperity  and  of  her  future 
independence. 

* 


* 


If,  as  we  trust,  the  reader  is  convinced  after 
reading  this  short  sketch  of  Belgium's  history  that 
Belgian  nationality  is  more  than  a  vain  word,  and 
that  the  attitude  adopted  by  the  Belgian  people 


INTRODUCTION  19 

in  August  1914,  far  from  being  an  impulsive 
movement,  was  merely  the  result  of  the  slow  and 
progressive  development  of  their  national  feeling 
throughout  the  ages,  he  will  also  realize  that  this 
development  has  received  many  checks,  and  is  there- 
fore very  different  from  that  which  may  be  traced 
in  the  history  of  England,  for  instance,  or  even  in 
that  of  France.  Nowhere  would  the  familiar  image 
of  the  growing  tree  be  more  misleading.  Belgian 
history  possesses  some  remarkable  landmarks,  under 
Charlemagne,  for  instance,  at  the  time  of  the 
Communes,  under  the  rule  of  the  Dukes  of  Burgundy, 
under  Charles  V,  and  during  the  recent  period 
of  independence.  But,  between  these  periods  of 
prosperity  and  even  splendour,  we  notice  some 
periods  of  stagnation  due  to  internal  strife  or  even 
complete  decadence,  when  the  country  became  a 
prey  to  foreign  invasion.  Few  peoples  have  ex- 
perienced such  severe  trials,  few  have  shown  such 
extraordinary  power  of  recovery.  Peace  and  a  wise 
government  coincide  invariably  with  an  extra- 
ordinary material  and  intellectual  efflorescence,  war 
and  oppression  with  the  partial  or  total  loss  of 
the  progress  realized  a  few  years  before,  so  that  the 
arts  and  trades  of  Belgian  cities  which  shine  at  one 
time  in  the  forefront  of  European  civilization  seem 
totally  forgotten  at  another.  In  more  than  one  way 
Belgium  has  lived  under  a  troubled  sky,  where  heavy 
showers  succeed  bright  sunshine,  while  the  towers 
of  Ypres,  Ghent,  Bruges,  Antwerp,  Louvain  and 
Brussels  appear  and  disappear  on  the  horizon. 

How  can  we  explain  the  tragedy  of  these  abrupt 
changes  ?      How     can    we     justify    these     sudden 


2O  BELGIUM 

alternations  in  the  life  of  a  hard-working  and  peace- 
loving  people  who  never  indulged  in  any  dreams 
of  imperialism  and  foreign  conquest? 

A  look  at  the  map  will  help  us  to  solve  the 
mystery.  The  plain  of  northern  Europe  may  be 
divided  into  two  wide  areas,  the  French  plain, 
whose  waters  run  from  East  to  West  into  the 
Atlantic,  and  the  German  plain,  whose  waters  run 
from  South  to  North  into  the  North  Sea  and  the 
Baltic.  These  wide  expanses  are  connected  by  a 
narrow  strip  of  territory  through  which  all  com- 
munications skirting  the  hills  and  mountains  of  the 
South  must  necessarily  be  concentrated,  and  whose 
waters  follow  a  north-westerly  direction  towards  the 
Straits  of  Dover.  This  small  plain,  only  90  miles 
wide  from  Ostend  to  Namur,  constitutes  a  natural 
link  between  Germany  and  France,  and  plays,  from 
the  continental  point  of  view,  the  same  part  as  the 
Straits,  on  its  northern  coast.  Even  to-day,  in  spite 
of  the  progress  of  railway  communications,  the  main 
line  from  Paris  to  Berlin  passes  along  the  Sambre 
and  Meuse  valleys,  through  Namur,  Lie"ge  and  Aix- 
la-Chapelle,  and  the  events  of  August  1914  are 
only  the  last  example  of  the  frequent  use  made  of 
this  road  throughout  history,  by  invaders  coming 
from  the  East  or  from  the  South.  For  peaceful  and 
warlike  intercourse,  Belgium  is  situated  on  the 
natural  highway  connecting  the  French  and  German 
plains.  This  geographical  feature  alone  would  suffice 
to  influence  the  historical  development  of  the  country. 
But  there  is  another. 

It  so  happens  that  by  an  extraordinary  arrange- 
ment of  the   map,  which  one  may  be  tempted  to 


INTRODUCTION  21 

call  a  coincidence,  the  sea  straits  are  placed  in 
close  proximity  to  the  continental  narrows,  so  that 
the  natural  route  from  Great  Britain  to  central 
Europe  crosses  in  Belgium  the  natural  route  from 
France  to  Germany.  This  appears  all  the  more 
clearly  if  we  take  into  consideration  the  fact  that 
the  seventeen  provinces  extended  in  the  past  from 
the  Zuyder  Zee  to  the  Somme,  and  that  Bruges, 
and  later  on  Antwerp,  benefited  largely  from  the 
trade  of  the  Thames.  This  then  is  what  is  meant 
when  Belgium  is  spoken  of  as  being  placed  at  "the 
cross-roads  of  Europe."  Most  of  the  continental 
communications  between  Great  Britain  and  Germany 
or  Italy,  on  the  one  hand,  or  between  France  and 
Germany  on  the  other,  were  bound  to  pass  through 
her  provinces.  She  was,  and  is  still  to  a  certain 
extent,  the  predestined  meeting-ground  of  British, 
French  and  German  culture,  the  market  -  place 
where  merchandise  and  ideas  from  the  North,  the 
West,  the  East  and  the  South  may  be  most 
conveniently  exchanged,  and  she  derives  her 
originality  from  the  very  variety  of  the  influences 
which  surround  her.  The  division  of  languages 
and  races  helped  her  in  her  task,  and,  instead 
of  proving  an  obstacle  to  national  development, 
contributed  to  it  whenever  circumstances  proved 
favourable.  The  original  contribution  of  the  people 
to  this  development  may  be  somewhat  diffi- 
cult to  define,  but  the  result  is  no  less  evident. 
Belgian,  or  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  Flemish 
culture,  though  intimately  connected  with  France 
and  Germany,  is  neither  French  nor  German,  still 
less  English.  Its  characteristics  are  derived  from, 


22  BELGIUM 

the  combination  of  various  European  influences 
strongly  moulded  by  long-standing  traditions  and 
habits.  "  The  will  to  live  together  "  which,  according 
to  Renan,  is  at  the  root  of  every  nationality,  and 
proves  stronger  than  unity  of  race  and  language, 
finds  nowhere  a  better  illustration  than  in  the 
strange  part  played  by  the  Belgian  nation  in  the 
history  of  Europe.  Common  interests,  common 
dangers,  common  aspirations  produced  and  main- 
tained a  distinct  civilization  which,  according  to  all 
the  laws  of  materialistic  logic,  ought  to  have  been 
wrecked  and  swamped  long  ago  by  the  over- 
whelming influences  to  which  it  was  subjected. 


As  early  as  the  ninth  century,  under  the  rule  of 
Charlemagne,  these  characteristics  began  to  show 
themselves.  The  Emperor  chose  Aix-la-Chapelle 
for  his  capital,  not  only  because  he  possessed  vast 
domains  in  the  region,  but  also  because,  from  this 
central  position,  he  was  better  able  to  keep  in  contact 
with  the  governors  of  a  vast  Empire  which  extended 
from  the  Elbe  to  Spain  and  Italy.  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
"  the  Northern  Rome,"  became  the  metropolis  of 
commerce  as  well  as  the  political  capital.  The 
various  intellectual  centres  created  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, at  the  monasteries  of  Li^ge,  Tongres,  and 
Maesyck  attracted  English,  Irish,  French  and  Italian 
poets,  musicians,  lawyers  and  theologians. 

Later,  in  the  twelfth  century,  when  the  free 
Communes  developed  all  over  Western  Europe  and 
succeeded  in  breaking  the  power  of  feudalism,  it  was 
left  to  Ghent  and  Bruges  to  raise  the  free  city  to 


INTRODUCTION  23 

a  standard  of  independence  and  prosperity  which 
it  did  not  attain  in  other  countries,  placed  under  a 
stronger  central  power.  In  the  shadow  of  their 
proud  belfries  over  80,000  merchants  and  artisans 
pursued  their  active  trade,  and  Bruges,  "  the  Venice 
of  the  North,"  became  the  principal  port  of  Europe 
and  the  centre  of  banking  activity. 

The  part  played  by  the  Burgundian  Dukes  in 
European  politics  during  the  Hundred  Years'  War 
is  well  known  in  this  country,  but  the  importance 
of  their  action  in  unifying  the  seventeen  provinces 
of  the  Netherlands  is  not  sufficiently  realized.  In 
fact,  in  spite  of  their  foreign  origin,  their  policy  was 
so  much  inspired  by  the  interest  of  the  country 
that  they  may  be  considered  as  national  princes. 
The  "Great  Dukes  of  the  West"  did  for  Belgium, 
in  the  fifteenth  century,  what  Louis  XI  did  for 
France,  and  what  Henry  VIII  did  for  England, 
half  a  century  later.  They  succeeded  in  centralizing 
public  institutions  and  in  suppressing,  to  a  great 
extent,  local  jealousies  and  internal  strife  which 
weakened  the  nation  and  wasted  her  resources. 
Under  their  rule  the  Belgian  provinces  rose  to  an 
unequalled  intellectual  and  artistic  splendour  and 
gave  to  the  world,  by  the  paintings  of  the  brothers 
Van  Eyck  and  their  school,  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
expressions  of  the  early  Renaissance. 

This  prominent  situation  was  maintained,  in 
spite  of  the  fall  of  the  Burgundian  dynasty,  when, 
through  the  marriage  of  Mary  of  Burgundy  with 
Maximilian,  Belgium  passed  under  the  sway  of  the 
Hapsburg  dynasty.  Under  Charles  V,  Antwerp 
inherited  the  prosperity  of  Bruges,  and  became 


24  BELGIUM 

the  principal  centre  of  European  commerce.  It 
was  visited  every  year  by  2,500  ships,  and  the 
amount  of  commercial  transactions  made  through 
its  exchange  was  valued  at  forty  million  ducats 
per  year. 

Even  after  the  disastrous  wars  of  religion  which 
separated  the  Northern  Netherlands,  or  United 
Provinces,  from  the  southern  provinces,  and  ruined 
for  two  centuries  the  port  of  Antwerp,  there  was  a 
short  respite,  under  the  wise  rule  of  the  Archdukes 
Albert  and  Isabella  (1598-1633),  during  which  the 
art  of  Rubens,  Van  Dyck  and  Jordaens  threw  a 
last  glamour  on  Belgium's  falling  greatness. 

This  rapid  sketch  of  the  happy  periods  of  Belgian 
history  would  not  be  complete  if  we  did  not 
allude  to  the  wonderful  recovery  made  by  the 
country  as  soon  as  the  Powers  granted  her  the  right 
to  live  as  an  independent  State  after  the  unhappy 
experiment  of  the  joint  Kingdom  of  the  Netherlands 
(1815-1830).  Her  population  increased  twofold. 
The  Scheldt  was  reopened  and  Antwerp  regained 
most  of  its  previous  trade.  At  the  time  of  the 
German  invasion  modern  Belgium  occupied  the 
first  rank  in  Europe  with  regard  to  the  density 
of  her  population,  the  yield  of  her  fields  per  acre, 
the  development  of  her  railway  system  and  the 
importance  of  her  special  trade  per  head  of  inhabi- 
tants. In  spite  of  her  small  area,  she  occupied  the 
fifth  rank  among  the  great  trading  nations  of  the 
world,  and  the  names  of  Maeterlinck,  Verhaeren, 
Ce"sar  Franck  and  Meunier  show  that  she  had  re- 
conquered a  great  part  of  her  former  intellectual 
prestige. 


INTRODUCTION  25 

There  is  one  striking  resemblance  between  all 
periods  of  Belgian  development.  Whether  in  the 
ninth,  the  thirteenth,  the  fifteenth  or  the  nineteenth 
century,  they  express  the  civilization  of  the  time,  and 
succeed  in  producing  a  typical  example  of  essentially 
European  culture,  imperial  under  Charlemagne, 
communal  in  the  Middle  Ages,  centralized  under 
national  princes  during  the  Renaissance,  highly 
industrialized  and  colonial  in  modern  times.  This 
trait  must  be  considered  when  Belgium  is  represented 
as  the  "  kernel  of  Europe,"  as  combining  the  spirit  of 
the  North,  East  and  South.  It  is  not  enough  to  say 
that  the  country  seems  predestined  to  this  task  by 
her  geographical  position  and  her  duality  of  race  and 
language  bringing  together  the  so-called  "  Germanic  " 
and  "  Latin "  tendencies ;  it  must  be  added  that, 
whenever  historical  circumstances  allowed  it,  the 
people  made  full  use  of  such  advantages.  Whether 
under  local  princes,  or  under  foreign  princes  who 
understood  Belgian  interests,  given  peace  conditions 
at  home  and  abroad,  the  country  never  failed  to  rise 
to  the  occasion. 

But  these  periods  of  greatness  were  short-lived 
compared  with  the  periods  of  decadence  which 
succeeded  them.  After  the  division  of  the  Empire 
of  Charlemagne  the  Belgian  counties  and  duchies 
found  themselves  plunged  in  the  throes  of  feudal 
disputes  and  divided  between  the  Kings  of  France 
and  the  Emperors  of  Germany.  The  power  of  the 
suzerain  was  nowhere  weaker  than  in  these  distant 
marches,  and  the  Belgian  princes  were  left  free  to 
pursue  their  quarrels  with  complete  disregard  of  the 
common  interest.  The  prosperity  of  the  Communes 


26  BELGIUM 

in  the  thirteenth  and  beginning  of  the  fourteenth 
centuries,  was  rapidly  undermined  by  internal  strife 
and  by  the  difficulties  the  Counts  of  Flanders 
experienced  in  trying  to  conciliate  their  duty  to 
their  French  suzerain  with  the  interest  of  the  people 
which  prompted  an  English  alliance.  The  fall  of 
Charles  the  Bold  provoked  a  fresh  outburst  of  the 
spirit  of  local  independence,  which  greatly  en- 
dangered the  country's  peace,  and,  if  the  situation 
was  restored,  under  Philip  the  Fair  and  Charles  V, 
during  the  first  part  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
the  second  part  of  this  century  witnessed  the 
gradual  exhaustion  of  the  Southern  Netherlands 
divided  against  themselves  and  subjected  to  the 
attacks  of  both  Spanish  and  Dutch. 

The  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  which 
are  for  other  countries,  like  France,  a  period 
of  exceptional  national  prestige,  mark  the  deepest 
stage  of  Belgian  decadence  and  humiliation.  The 
Scheldt  was  closed,  trade  and  industry  were 
practically  dead,  foreign  troops,  French,  Dutch, 
Spanish  or  Austrian,  ceaselessly  pursued  their  work 
of  devastation.  A  foreign  possession,  open  to  the 
incursions  of  her  possessors'  enemies,  sacrificed  by 
her  masters  at  every  stage  of  the  peace  negotiations 
in  order  to  save  their  native  country,  Belgium  lost 
Dutch  Flanders,  Northern  Brabant  and  part  of 
Limburg  to  Holland,  French  Flanders,  Franche 
Comt£  and  Artois  to  France.  The  Treaty  of 
Miinster  sealed  the  fate  of  Antwerp,  and  the  Treaty 
of  the  Barriers  left  the  Dutch  in  possession  of  all 
the  country's  most  important  fortified  positions. 

Though   it   gave    back    to    Belgium    her   natural 


INTRODUCTION  27 

frontier  in  the  North  and  reopened  the  Scheldt 
for  a  short  time,  the  French  regime  did  not  greatly 
improve  the  economic  situation.  After  the  union 
with  Holland  (1815),  the  political  struggle  which 
followed  prevented  the  people  from  enjoying  the 
full  benefit  of  the  change,  so  that  we  must  wait 
until  1830  before  being  able  to  notice  any  consider- 
able improvement. 


This  general  survey  will  suffice  to  show  that 
Belgian  history  may  be  divided  into  periods  of 
progress  and  decadence.  The  same  may  be  said, 
it  is  true,  of  the  history  of  all  nations.  But  nowhere 
else  is  the  difference  between  the  higher  and  lower 
levels  so  pronounced  and  the  intervals  between  the 
acts  so  protracted.  As  we  have  already  said,  the 
country  passes  suddenly  from  the  brightest  limelight 
of  fame  to  the  darkest  recess  of  mediocrity  and 
oblivion.  Some  of  these  contrasts,  such  as  those 
existing  between  Charlemagne's  united  Empire  and 
feudal  divisions,  are  shared  by  the  rest  of  Europe. 
Others,  at  the  time  of  the  Renaissance  and  the 
Reformation,  and  when  the  country  came  under 
Spanish,  Austrian  and  French  rule,  are  peculiar  to 
Belgium.  To  the  slow  development  of  national 
unity,  her  history  adds  the  obstacles  of  foreign 
domination  and  foreign  invasion.  The  exceptional 
situation  of  the  country  on  the  map  gives  equally 
great  chances  of  ruin  and  recovery.  The  same  con- 
ditions which  bring  about  Belgium's  downfall  contri- 
bute largely  to  her  restoration,  the  same  roads  which 
bring  wealth  in  time  of  peace,  are  followed,  in  time 


28  BELGIUM 

of  war,  by  foreign  armies.  She  is  not  only  the  cross- 
roads of  Europe,  she  is  the  battlefield  of  Europe. 
From  Bouvines  (1214)  to  Waterloo  and  Ypres,  almost 
all  the  great  battles  which  decided  the  fate  of 
Europe  and  determined  her  balance  of  power  were 
fought  on  Belgian  soil.  Sometimes  the  inhabitants 
took  a  share  in  the  struggle,  oftener  they  were  not 
even  given  the  chance  to  interfere,  while  the  Powers 
settled  other  quarrels  at  their  expense. 

The  Belgian  people  have  acquired  a  remarkable 
reputation  for  their  sturdiness  and  their  power  of 
recovery.  But,  while  they  are  entirely  irresponsible 
for  their  weakness,  which  can  only  be  attributed 
to  the  small  size  and  the  defenceless  character  of 
their  country,  they  cannot  be  considered  as  entirely 
responsible  for  their  strength.  A  port  like  Antwerp, 
if  at  all  accessible,  is  bound  to  prosper  under  any 
circumstances.  A  town  like  Brussels  cannot  fail 
to  benefit  by  its  unique  situation,  from  an  inter- 
national point  of  view.  With  her  rich  coal  mines 
among  her  fertile  fields,  Belgium,  considering  her 
size,  is  perhaps  more  richly  endowed  by  Nature 
than  any  other  country  in  Europe.  But  such  ex- 
ceptional advantages  have  been  more  than  com- 
pensated in  the  past  by  the  heavy  risks  which  this 
richness  implied. 


CHAPTER   I 

THE  COAL  WOOD 

M 
IT  is  usually  assumed  that,  while  human  conditions 

alter  throughout  the  ages,  natural  surroundings 
remain  sensibly  the  same.  This  may  be  true  with 
regard  to  people  whose  history  is  only  affected 
by  the  streams  which  cross  their  land  and  the 
hills  and  mountains  which  protect  them  by 
natural  barriers.  When  dealing  with  a  country 
like  Belgium  however,  widely  open  on  all  sides,  we 
cannot  be  content  with  such  wide  generalizations. 
We  must  ask  ourselves  if  some  important  physical 
features  have  not  been  altered  by  the  work  of 
man  and  if  some  natural  obstacles,  which  have 
since  disappeared,  did  not  affect  the  earlier  stage 
of  Belgian  history. 

The  traveller  who  crosses  the  country  to-day 
from  Ostend  to  Arlon  will  at  once  recognize  its 
main  features  :  first  a  low-lying  plain,  between 
the  sea  and  Brussels,  then  a  district  of  smooth 
hills,  as  far  as  Namur,  and  finally,  beyond  the 
Meuse,  the  deeply  cut  valleys  and  high  plateaux 
of  the  Ardennes,  reaching  an  average  of  1,500  feet 
above  sea-level.  In  this  last  region  only  will  the 
aspect  of  the  country  suggest  to  him  the  idea 
of  some  natural  obstacle  to  free  communications, 
though  it  could  in  no  way  appear  forbidding  when 
compared  to  the  mountains  of  Scotland  and  Wales. 

But  at  the  time  of  the  Roman  conquest  (57  B.C.), 
Belgium,  that  is  to  say  the  country  peopled  by 

39 


3<D  BELGIUM 

various  tribes  designated  by  Julius  Caesar  under 
the  name  of  "  Belgae,"  was  very  different  from 
what  it  is  to-day.  The  flat  coast,  unprotected 
against  the  incursions  of  the  sea,  was  bordered  by 
wide  marshes,  while  all  the  southern  part  of  the 
country  was  covered  by  a  thick  forest,  the  "  Silva 
Carbonaria,"  which  merged  in  the  wild  plateaux 
of  the  Ardennes  and  formed,  at  the  time,  a  serious 
obstacle  to  any  incursion  coming  from  the  north 
or  the  east. 

These  physical  conditions  must  have  favoured 
the  guerrilla  warfare  waged  for  four  years  by  the 
various  Celtic  tribes  against  the  Roman  invader, 
and  it  is  no  doubt  partly  to  them  that  the  old 
"  Belgae  "  owed  their  reputation  of  courage  and 
fortitude.  These  tribes,  occupying  the  Scheldt 
and  Meuse  valleys,  formed  the  rearguard  of  the 
Celtic  wave  of  invasion  which,  coming  from 
the  East,  had  spread  across  Western  Europe.  At 
the  time  of  the  Roman  conquest  they  were  already 
closely  pressed  by  a  vanguard  of  Germanic  tribes 
which  had  settled  in  Zeeland  and  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  Rhine,  so  that  even  at  this  early  stage  of 
Belgium's  history  we  find  the  dualistic  character 
of  Belgian  civilization  marked  in  the  division  of 
the  country  into  two  Roman  provinces,  "  Belgica 
Secunda,"  in  the  west,  and  "  Germania  Inferior," 
in  the  east. 

The  immediate  effect  of  the  Roman  conquest, 
which  was  far  more  rapid  than  in  Britain,  was  to 
stop  for  a  time  the  influx  of  German  tribes  by  the 
establishment  of  a  solid  barrier  along  the  Rhine. 
The  colonists  of  German  origin  were  soon  absorbed 
by  the  old  inhabitants  of  the  country,  and  were 
subjected  with  them  to  the  powerful  influence  of 


ROMAN  INFLUENCES  31 

Roman  culture.  Celts  and  Germans  alike  became 
Belgo-Romans,  and  adopted  the  trade  and  the 
institutions  of  their  conquerors. 

As  far  as  we  can  make  out  from  the  scanty 
documents  at  our  disposal,  Roman  civilization 
moved  along  the  Rhine  towards  Cologne,  whence 
a  great  Roman  highway  was  built  towards  the 
West,  crossing  the  Meuse  at  Maestricht  and, 
following  the  edge  of  the  Coal  Wood,  through 
Tongres  and  Cambrai  to  Boulogne.  This  road, 
known  through  the  early  Middle  Ages  as  the 
"  Road  of  Brunehaut,"  was  for  a  long  time  the 
main  way  running  from  east  to  west  in  a  country 
where  all  the  important  streams,  such  as  the 
Meuse,  the  Scheldt  and  their  tributaries,  ran  from 
south  to  north.  The  extent  of  Roman  influence 
may  be  gauged  by  the  position  which  the  various 
parts  of  the  country  occupied  towards  this  high- 
way. Tongres  and  Tournai  still  possess  Roman 
remains.  The  foundations  of  Roman  villas  are 
found  in  the  provinces  of  Namur,  Hainault 
and  Artois,  while  all  traces  of  Roman  occupa- 
tion have  disappeared  from  Flanders.  The  sandy 
and  marshy  nature  of  the  soil  in  Northern  Bel- 
gium may  to  a  certain  extent  account  for  this 
fact,  and  we  know  that,  in  some  instances, 
the  stones  provided  by  old  Roman  structures  were 
used,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  for  the  construction  of 
new  buildings.  But  it  can  nevertheless  be  assumed 
that,  generally  speaking,  communications  remained 
the  principal  factor  of  Roman  civilization  in  these 
far-away  marches  of  the  Empire,  and  that  Roman 
influence,  so  strongly  felt  on  the  Rhine  and  along 
the  Meuse,  became  gradually  less  important  as 
the  distance  increased.  The  country  was  almost 


32  BELGIUM 

exclusively  agricultural,  but  it  is  interesting  to 
note,  in  view  of  later  developments,  that,  even 
at  this  remote  period,  the  Menapii,  who  dwelt 
in  Flanders,  had  acquired  a  reputation  for  cattle 
breeding  and  manufactured  woollen  mantles  which, 
under  the  name  of  "  birri,"  were  exported  beyond 
the  Alps. 

Though  strongly  influenced  by  Rome  in  their 
trade  and  methods  of  agriculture,  the  Belgo- 
Romans  had  retained  their  language  and  religion. 
Romanization,  in  the  full  meaning  of  the  word, 
only  began  during  the  last  years  of  the  third  cen- 
tury, under  the  influence  of  Christianity.  During 
the  third  century,  the  bishopric  of  Treves  included 
the  whole  of  "  Germania  Inferior."  A  special 
bishopric  was  established  subsequently  at  Cologne, 
and,  about  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century, 
at  Tongres.  Others  appeared  later  at  Tournai, 
Arras  and  Cambrai.  This  gradual  spread  of 
Christianity,  which  moved  along  the  same  roads 
as  Roman  civilization,  from  Cologne  towards 
the  West,  only  reached  Flanders  half  a  century 
later. 

The  Christianization  of  the  country  must  have 
been  far  from  complete  when  the  incursions  of  the 
Germanic  tribes,  greatly  encouraged  by  the  gradual 
decline  of  the  Roman  Empire,  brought  a  sudden 
and  dramatic  change  in  the  life  and  development 
of  the  two  Roman  provinces. 


During  the  third  and  fourth  centuries,  the 
pressure  of  the  Germanic  tribes,  which  had  been 
considerably  delayed  by  the  Roman  conquest, 
reasserted  itself.  The  Rhine  frontier  was  subjected 


THE  FRANKS  33 

to  repeated  assaults,  which  the  depleted  legions 
were  no  longer  in  a  position  to  repulse  effectively. 
The  Franks  attacked  from  the  east  and  the  north 
through  Zeeland,  while  part  of  the  Saxons  who 
attacked  Britain  raided  at  the  same  time  the 
Belgian  coast.  In  spite  of  the  military  successes 
of  the  Emperors  Constantine  and  Julian,  the  situa- 
tion became  so  threatening  that  a  second  line 
of  defences  was  fortified  on  the  Meuse  and  along 
the  great  Roman  highroad  running  from  Tongres 
to  Tournai.  In  358,  Julian  authorized  the  Franks 
to  settle  in  the  sandy  moors  east  of  the  Scheldt 
(Toxandria),  and  when,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
fifth  century,  Stilicon  recalled  the  legions  in  order 
to  defend  Italy  against  the  Goths,  the  German 
tribes,  finding  themselves  unopposed,  invaded 
the  country  of  the  Scheldt  and  the  Lys,  reducing 
into  serfdom  the  old  inhabitants  who  had  escaped 
massacre.  The  Rhine  ceased  henceforth  to  be 
the  Empire's  frontier.  The  latter  ran  now  along 
the  great  highway  from  Tongres  to  Arras.  Before 
their  second  line  of  defences  the  Romans,  under 
^Etius,  put  up  a  last  fight,  but  they  were  defeated 
by  the  Prankish  king  Clodion,  who  extended  his 
kingdom  along  the  coast  as  far  as  the  Somme  and 
established  himself  at  Tournai  (431),  where  his 
grave  was  discovered  twelve  centuries  later. 

It  seemed  as  if  the  Franks,  in  their  irresistible 
advance,  were  going  to  wipe  out  from  Belgium 
and  Gaul  all  trace  of  Roman  civilization,  and 
such  a  catastrophe  would  no  doubt  have  occurred, 
if  a  natural  obstacle  had  not  broken  their  impetus. 
We  mentioned  above  that,  south  of  a  line  running 
from  Dunkirk  to  Maestricht,  the  country  was 
covered  with  a  thick  forest,  the  "  Silva  Carbonaria." 

3 


34  BELGIUM 

This  wall  of  wood  did  more  to  stop  the  invaders 
than  the  heroic  efforts  of  ^)tius.  It  sheltered 
the  Celts  from  the  Franks  in  Belgium  as  the 
mountains  of  Wales  and  the  hills  of  Cornwall 
sheltered  them  from  the  Saxons  in  Great  Britain. 
Conquests  were  pursued  by  the  Frankish  kings 
and  their  nobles,  but  the  invasion  stopped.  The 
movement  ceased  to  be  ethnical  and  became 
political.  The  Franks  reached  the  clearings  of 
the  forest  and  nominally  subjected  Gaul  to  their 
power,  but  they  were  now  in  a  minority,  and  the 
conquered  soon  succeeded  in  absorbing  the  con- 
querors. It  is  significant  that  the  "  Lex  Salica," 
the  oldest  document  in  which  the  name  of  the 
Coal  Wood  is  mentioned,  describes  it  as  "  the 
boundary  of  the  territories  occupied  by  the  Frank- 
ish people."  To  the  north  of  this  boundary  the 
country  was  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  invaders ; 
to  the  south,  the  "  Wala,"  as  the  Franks  called 
the  Belgo-Romans,  succeeded  in  maintaining 
themselves  and  in  preserving  to  a  certain  extent 
the  Roman  language  and  civilization.  The  old 
limit,  running  in  a  northerly  direction  and  dividing 
in  the  past  "  Germania  Inferior  "  from  "  Belgica 
Secunda,"  had  been  bent  under  the  pressure  of 
the  Frankish  invasions,  and  ran  now  from  east 
to  west,  but  the  dualism  which  we  noted  above 
had  not  disappeared.  The  Franks  settled  in  the 
north,  the  romanized  Celts  or  "  Walas  "  occupied 
the  south.  The  first  are  the  ancestors  of  the 
Flemings  of  to-day,  the  second  of  the  Walloons, 
and  the  limit  of  languages  between  the  two  sections 
of  the  population  has  remained  the  same.  It 
runs  to-day  where  it  ran  fourteen  centuries  ago, 
from  the  south  of  Ypres  to  Brussels  and  Maestricht, 


LANGUAGE   FRONTIER  35 

dividing  Belgium  almost  evenly  into  two  popula- 
tions belonging  to  two  separate  races  and  speaking 
two  different  languages.  The  ancient  forest  has 
disappeared,  but  its  edge  is  still  marked  on  the 
map.  We  cross  it  to-day  without  noticing  any 
alteration  in  the  landscape,  but  the  distant  voices 
of  the  peasants  working  in  the  fields  remind  us 
of  its  ancient  shadow  and  impassable  undergrowth. 
The  traveller  wonders,  one  moment,  at  the  change, 
then  takes  up  the  road  again,  adding  one  further 
unanswered  question  to  his  load  of  unsolved 
problems.  The  historian  evokes  the  terrible  years 
of  the  fifth  century,  when  the  fate  of  Europe  hung 
in  the  balance  and  when  the  surging  waves  of 
Pagan  Germanism  spent  their  last  energy  along 
that  leafy  barrier  which  saved  Christianity  and 
Roman  civilization,  and  incidentally  gave  the 
Belgian  nation  its  most  prominent  and  interesting 
character.  The  singsong  of  a  Walloon  sentence 
may  thus  suggest  the  rustling  of  the  leaves  and  the 
piping  of  early  birds,  while  the  more  guttural 
accents  of  a  Flemish  name  remind  us  of  the  war- 
cry  of  wild  hordes  and  the  beating  of  "  frameas." 
The  Prankish  invasions  of  the  fifth  century 
may  be  considered  the  most  important  event  of 
Belgium's  early  history.  Whether  the  unity  of 
the  Belgian  nation  is  questioned  or  upheld,  we 
must  inevitably  go  back  to  the  cause  of  its  real 
or  apparent  division.  If  such  division,  from  being 
racial  and  linguistic,  had  become  political  or 
economic — that  is  to  say,  if  the  language  boundary 
had  coincided  with  some  of  the  boundaries  which 
divided  the  country  at  a  later  stage — the  idea  that 
Belgium  was  born  in  1830  and  constituted  an 
"  artificial  creation  of  European  diplomacy  "  might 


36  BELGIUM 

not  be  groundless.  Here,  as  in  many  other 
countries  of  Europe,  nationality  would  have  been 
determined  mostly  by  race  and  language.  This, 
however,  is  not  the  case.  At  no  period  of  Belgian 
history  did  any  division  follow  the  linguistic 
frontier.  On  the  contrary,  most  of  the  political 
and  ecclesiastical  units  created  during  the  Middle 
Ages  included  both  elements  of  the  population, 
and,  through  frequent  intercourse  and  common 
interests,  these  two  people,  speaking  different 
languages,  became  gradually  welded  into  one. 
When  in  the  fifteenth  century  the  various  duchies 
and  counties  came  under  the  sway  of  the  dukes 
of  Burgundy,  national  unity  was  realized,  as  it 
was  realized  in  England  or  in  France  at  the  same 
time,  through  the  increasing  power  and  centraliz- 
ing action  of  modern  princes.  A  few  prejudiced 
writers  have  vainly  endeavoured  to  exaggerate 
the  racial  or  linguistic  factor,  and  contended  that, 
in  the  eyes  of  science,  Belgian  nationality  could 
not  exist.  The  duty  of  a  scientist  is  not  to  distort 
the  manifestations  of  natural  phenomena  in  the 
light  of  some  more  or  less  popular  idea.  His 
duty  is  to  explain  facts.  The  development  and 
permanence  of  Belgian  nationality,  in  spite  of  the 
most  adverse  conditions,  is  one  of  these  facts. 
The  existence  of  the  Swiss  nation,  far  more  deeply 
divided  than  the  Belgian,  shows  that  it  is  not 
unique.  But  even  if  it  were  unique,  it  ought  to 
be  accounted  for.  It  is  far  easier  to  indulge  in 
broad  generalizations  than  to  devote  oneself  to 
a  close  study  of  nature  or  man.  It  is  not  the  rules, 
it  is  the  exceptions  which  ought  to  retain  our 
attention,  for  only  exceptions  will  teach  us  how 
imperfect  are  our  rules. 


CHAPTER   II 

FROM   SAINT  AMAND   TO   CHARLEMAGNE 

PURSUING  their  conquests  in  Gaul,  the  Frankish 
kings  soon  abandoned  Clodion's  capital  and 
established  themselves  in  Paris.  Clovis  and  his 
successors,  surrounded  by  their  warriors,  could  not 
resist  the  Gallo-Roman  influences  to  which  they 
were  subjected.  They  gave  their  name  to  the 
country  they  conquered,  but  adopted  its  customs 
and  paid  but  scant  attention  to  their  old  com- 
panions left  behind  as  settlers  on  the  banks  of  the 
Scheldt.  With  the  Belgo-Roman  population, 
Christianity  had  been  swept  from  Northern 
Belgium,  and  it  took  the  Church  two  centuries, 
after  the  baptism  of  Clovis  (496),  to  reconquer 
the  ground  she  had  lost. 

This  long  delay  is  easily  accounted  for.  The 
conversion  of  Clovis  and  of  his  followers,  which 
affected  so  deeply  the  course  of  French  history, 
scarcely  reacted  on  the  creeds  and  customs  of  the 
Pagan  Frankish  tribes  established  in  the  northern 
plain.  The  organization  of  the  Church,  which 
had  had  no  time  to  consolidate  itself,  had  been 
utterly  shattered  by  the  invasions.  Between  the 
fourth  and  the  seventh  centuries,  the  shadow  of 
Paganism  spread  again  across  the  land  in  Northern 
Belgium  as  in  Britain,  and  when  St.  Amand  arrived 
in  Flanders,  he  found  the  Franks  as  little  prepared 
to  receive  him  as  the  Saxons  had  been,  a  few  years 
before,  to  receive  Augustine. 

37 


38  BELGIUM 

In  Northern  Belgium,  as  in  Britain,  the  work 
of  rechristianization  had  to  be  undertaken  from 
outside.  The  regular  bishops,  confined  to  their 
towns,  could  not  possibly  cope  with  it.  Their  in- 
fluence was  limited  to  a  small  area,  and  their 
frequent  change  of  residence  suggests  that  their 
situation  was  rather  precarious.  During  the  sixth 
century,  the  bishops  of  Tongres  established  them- 
selves at  Maestricht,  those  of  Tournai  at  Noyon, 
and  those  of  Arras  at  Cambrai.  Later,  Maestricht 
was  abandoned  for  Lie"ge  (early  eighth  century). 
The  old  titles  of  "  episcopi  Tungrorum "  and 
"  episcopi  Morinorum  "  had  lost  all  meaning  since 
the  disappearance  of  the  old  Celtic  tribes,  but  the 
bishops,  in  preserving  them,  showed  that  they  still 
hoped  to  increase  their  influence  towards  the  north. 

This  ambition  would  have  remained  an  empty 
wish  but  for  the  action  of  a  few  ardent  missionaries 
who  undertook  to  convert  the  German  conquerors, 
in  the  seventh  century,  as  the  vanquished  Celts 
had  been  converted  in  the  third.  We  have  already 
drawn  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  the  simul- 
taneous events  occurring  on  both  sides  of  the 
sea,  in  Britain  and  Belgium,  during  the  early  stage 
of  their  history — Roman  conquest,  German  raids, 
retreat  of  the  Celtic  population  among  the  forests 
and  the  hills — but  none  of  these  concomitant  events 
is  more  striking  than  the  appearance,  almost  at 
the  same  time,  of  St.  Augustine  in  Kent  and 
St.  Amand  in  Flanders. 

The  latter's  mission,  however,  was  not  official. 
On  his  way  to  Rome,  he  saw  in  a  vision  St.  Peter, 
who  ordered  him  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the 
Northern  Pagans,  and  forthwith  he  established 
himself  at  the  confluence  of  the  Lys  and  the 


ST.    AMAND  39 

Scheldt.  In  this  place  he  founded  two  monasteries, 
which  were  to  be  the  origin  of  the  city  of  Ghent 
(610).  Emboldened  by  his  first  successes,  he 
attempted,  supported  by  the  king,  to  render 
baptism  compulsory,  which  caused  the  Franks 
to  revolt  against  him.  After  long  wanderings 
among  the  Danube  tribes,  he  came  back  to  Flanders 
as  Bishop  of  Tongres  in  641,  but  soon  gave  up  the 
cross  and  the  mitre  to  resume  the  monk's  habit, 
and  sought  martyrdom  among  the  Basques.  The 
palm  being  refused  him,  he  again  took  the  road 
to  Belgium,  where  he  died  at  the  monastery  of 
Elnone,  near  Tournai,  towards  661. 

For  fifty  years,  with  some  intervals,  he  had 
worked  unceasingly,  as  a  monk  and  as  a  bishop, 
for  the  conversion  of  Northern  Belgium.  His 
efforts  were  not  nearly  so  systematic  as  those  of 
Augustine.  He  did  not  organize  in  the  same  way 
his  spiritual  conquests.  He  contented  himself 
with  bringing  Pagans  into  the  fold  of  Christianity, 
but  did  little  to  retain  them  there.  His  burning 
enthusiasm,  however,  set  an  example  to  many 
disciples  and  followers,  who  wandered  after  him 
through  the  country — St.  Eloi  along  the  Scheldt, 
St.  Remacle  along  the  Meuse,  St.  Lambert  among 
the  barren  moors  of  Toxandria  and  St.  Hubert 
through  the  forests  of  the  Ardennes.  Beside 
these,  English  and  Irish  missionaries  took  a  large 
share  in  the  conversion  of  Northern  Belgium. 
The  fruit  of  these  individual  efforts  was  reaped 
by  the  various  bishops  who  had  never  ceased  to 
claim  the  northern  plain  as  an  integral  part  of 
their  dominions,  according  to  Roman  tradition. 
All  that  was  necessary,  after  Christianity  had 
been  reintroduced,  was  to  render  again  effective 


4O  BELGIUM 

a  bond  which  for  four  centuries  had  remained 
purely  nominal.  The  bishopric  of  Li£ge  extended 
between  the  Meuse  and  the  Dyle,  within  the  limits 
occupied  formerly  by  that  of  Tongres ;  that  of 
Cambrai,  between  the  Dyle  and  the  Scheldt 
(Nervii)  ;  that  of  Noyon,  between  the  Scheldt  and 
the  sea  (Menapii) ;  and  that  of  Terouanne,  along  the 
Yser  valley  (Morini).  Thus  were  re-established, 
through  the  action  of  the  Church,  the  old  frontiers 
of  the  Celtic  tribes,  adopted  by  the  Roman 
"  civitates,"  long  after  the  disappearance  of  the 
Celts  and  the  fall  of  Rome.  Lie"ge  was  attached  to 
the  archbishopric  of  Cologne,  the  three  others  to 
Rheims,  reviving,  for  ecclesiastical  purposes,  the 
old  division  between  "  Belgica  Secunda "  in 
the  west  and  "  Germania  Inferior  "  in  the  east. 
This  division  never  changed  until  the  sixteenth 
century,  when  the  northern  part  of  the  country 
ceased  to  be  under  the  religious  influence  of  the 
episcopal  cities  of  the  south. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  none  of  the  ecclesiastical 
boundaries  which  we  have  mentioned  run  in  an 
easterly  direction.  Instead  of  coinciding  with 
the  language  frontier,  they  cross  it  everywhere, 
uniting  in  the  same  religious  community  "  Walas  " 
and  "  Dietschen,"  Celts  and  Germans.  For  eight 
centuries  the  Church,  which  was  at  the  time  the 
supreme  moral  influence,  unconsciously  devoted 
all  its  energy  to  bringing  together  the  two  groups 
of  population.  They  met  in  the  same  churches, 
they  prayed  before  the  same  shrines,  they  joined  in 
the  same  pilgrimages,  they  studied  and  meditated 
within  the  walls  of  the  same  monasteries.  No 
wonder  if  such  intercourse  succeeded  finally  in 
uniting  those  whom  nature  had  so  strongly 


BISHOPRICS  41 

separated,  and  in  creating  in  Belgium  a  new  type 
of  civilization  neither  Celtic  nor  Prankish,  neither 
romanized  nor  germanized,  but  combining  some 
of  the  strongest  qualities  of  both  races  and 
well  prepared  to  act  as  a  kind  of  intellectual, 
moral  and  artistic  link  between  them.  This  rule 
suffers  only  one  exception.  When  the  progress  of 
Christianity  permitted  the  foundation  of  a  new 
bishopric  at  Utrecht,  this  religious  metropolis  was 
not  subjected  to  any  Romanic  influence.  It 
remained  purely  Germanic  in  character,  and,  already 
at  this  early  stage  of  the  history  of  the  Netherlands, 
gave  a  distinct  character  to  their  extreme  northern 
districts,  which  reasserted  itself  so  strongly  at  the 
time  of  the  Reformation. 

The  Merovingian  kings  gave  a  kind  of  sanction 
to  this  gradual  separation  of  the  Salian  Franks, 
established  in  Northern  Belgium,  from  the  bulk  of 
the  Germanic  tribes.  It  is  significant  that  the 
limit  which  for  a  time  separated  their  kingdom 
into  Neustria  in  the  west  and  Australia  in  the 
east,  and  which  followed,  in  Eastern  Gaul,  the 
language  frontier,  assumed  another  course  in 
Belgium,  and,  instead  of  running  from  east  to 
west,  as  might  have  been  expected,  ran  north  and 
south  along  the  frontier  separating  the  bishopric 
of  Liege  from  that  of  Cambrai,  bringing  Walas  and 
Franks  together  on  both  sides  of  the  line.  Another 
proof  of  the  romanizing  influence  of  the  Church 
may  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  Franks  established 
in  Belgium  forgot  their  tribal  affinities.  While  in 
the  seventh  century  Ripuarians,  Alamans  and 
Thuringians  constituted  themselves  into  so  many 
distinct  duchies,  no  attempt  was  ever  made  to 
found  a  Salian  duchy  in  Northern  Belgium.  The 


42  BELGIUM 

very  name  of  Franks  ceased  to  be  applied  to  the 
Walas'  neighbours,  and  it  is  as  "  Dietschen/'  or 
"  Thiois,"  that  they  were  known  through  the 
Middle  Ages. 

It  ought  not  to  be  assumed,  however,  that  the 
movement  was  one-sided  and  that  the  ancient 
Franks  adopted  the  religion  and,  to  a  certain 
extent,  the  language  of  the  southern  people 
without  influencing  them  in  their  turn.  The 
romanization  of  the  Franks  was  accompanied  by 
the  germanization  of  the  Walloons,  who  adopted  the 
laws  and  customs  of  their  conquerors.  The  latter 
became,  in  many  instances,  the  great  landowners 
of  this  part  of  the  country,  while  the  Prankish 
settlers,  in  the  North,  preserved  the  economic 
tradition  of  their  native  country  and  remained 
small  farmers.  Even  this  last  contrast  gradually 
disappeared  under  the  influence  of  powerful 
landlords  and  through  the  foundation  of  rich 
monasteries,  which  gradually  drew  towards  them, 
as  tenants  or  clients,  the  bulk  of  the  population 
in  both  parts  of  the  country.  So  that,  when  the 
Carolingian  dynasty  superseded  the  Merovingian, 
and  when  Charlemagne  received  the  imperial 
crown  from  the  hands  of  the  Pope  (800),  the 
work  of  unification  was  very  nearly  accomplished. 
Through  reciprocal  influences,  Dietschen  and 
Walas  lived  under  the  same  economic,  political, 
religious  and  judicial  regime.  The  linguistic 
distinction,  on  both  sides  of  the  Tournai-Maestricht 
line,  was  the  only  notable  difference,  and  even 
this  distinction  tended  to  disappear  through  the 
common  use  of  the  Roman  dialect. 

One  thing  only  remained  to  be  done  in  order  to 
crown  the  work  accomplished  during  the  two  last 


CHARLEMAGNE  43 

centuries :  the  creation  of  a  strong  centralizing 
political  power.  The  country  was  prepared  to 
play  the  part  which  she  was  predestined  to  play 
through  natural  and  racial  conditions  in  the  history 
of  Europe,  but  she  was  still  without  guidance, 
a  mere  borderland,  forgotten  and  neglected,  on 
the  fringe  of  the  Prankish  kingdom.  The  instru- 
ment was  ready,  but  no  artisan  could  yet  use  it. 
As  long  as  the  centre  of  political  activity  remained 
on  the  Seine,  the  characteristics  of  Belgian  civiliza- 
tion could  not  be  revealed.  As  long  as  the  balance 
between  Germanic  and  romanized  culture  inclined 
steadily  towards  the  West,  the  European  qualities 
of  this  Germanic,  semi-romanized  people  could 
not  be  tested.  It  would  be  perhaps  too  much  to 
say  that  Charlemagne  founded  Belgian  nationality, 
in  the  same  way  that  Clovis  established  French 
nationality  in  unifying  Gaul,  or  that  Alfred  revealed 
the  English  to  themselves  in  his  triumphant 
struggle  against  the  Danes.  But,  by  carrying 
the  frontiers  of  his  Empire  as  far  as  the  Elbe  and 
establishing  his  headquarters  in  the  centre  of  his 
old  domain,  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  in  a  central  posi- 
tion midway  between  France  and  Germany,  Charle- 
magne gave  at  least  an  opportunity  to  almost 
every  trait  of  Belgian  social  life  to  assert  itself. 
During  the  first  part  of  the  ninth  century 
the  region  of  the  Scheldt  and  the  Meuse  became 
a  beehive  of  activity.  From  every  part  of  the 
world,  merchants,  theologians,  artists  and  musicians 
crowded  towards  the  new  economic  and  intellectual 
centre  of  Europe.  Arnon,  a  pupil  of  Alcuin,  came 
to  Elnone,  the  Irish  Sedulius  to  Li£ge,  the  Italian 
Georgius  to  Valenciennes,  while  the  schools  of 
St.  Amand,  under  Hucbald,  acquired  a  world-wide 


44  BELGIUM 

reputation.  Everywhere  new  monasteries  were 
established,  new  churches  and  palaces  built. 
The  arts  of  illuminating,  embroidery,  carving  and 
stained  glass  were  brought  to  an  unparalleled 
degree  of  perfection  and  refinement.  Bishops  and 
abbots  competed  in  attracting  to  their  courts  and 
monasteries  the  best-known  doctors  and  poets 
of  the  time.  We  have  lost  most  of  the  artistic 
treasures  and  manuscripts  of  the  period  through 
the  subsequent  Norman  invasions.  Every  vestige 
of  Carolingian  sculpture  and  architecture  in  Belgium 
has  been  destroyed.  But,  through  the  works  ac- 
complished in  other  countries  and  with  the  help 
of  a  few  documents  such  as  the  inventory  preserved 
in  the  Chronicle  of  St.  Trond,  we  are  able  at 
least  to  appreciate  not  only  their  intrinsic  value, 
but  also  the  interest  they  awoke  among  clerics 
and  laymen.  That  the  great  emperor  encouraged 
this  movement  and  took  a  direct  part  in  it  in 
attracting  to  the  various  centres  of  learning  the 
best  masters  in  Europe  is  sufficiently  shown  by 
his  letter  to  Gerbald  of  Liege.  Under  his  direction, 
European  civilization  was  definitely  established  in 
the  northern  plain  of  Europe  and  Aix-la-Chapelle 
became  indeed  the  "  Northern  Rome."  The 
capital,  with  Tongres,  Liege,  St.  Trond  and  other 
neighbouring  cities,  formed  a  centre  from  which 
civilization  spread  east  and  west  towards  Germany 
and  France,  just  as  it  had  spread,  a  few  centuries 
before,  from  Central  Italy  towards  the  Eastern 
and  Western  Mediterranean. 

The  old  Roman  road,  along  which  the  monasteries 
founded  many  hostelries,  was  followed  by  streams 
of  travellers  of  every  description.  The  Meuse, 
Scheldt  and  Rhine  were  dotted  with  the  sails  of 


FRISIAN  CLOTH  45 

many  ships  bringing  foreign  wares  and  taking 
away  the  products  of  home  industry.  The  most 
important  of  these  was  a  special  kind  of  cloth, 
"  the  Frisian  cloth,"  for  which  the  northern 
plain,  covered  with  rich  pastures  and  producing 
great  quantities  of  wool,  was  already  renowned. 
It  was  a  specialized  industry,  the  natural  develop- 
ment of  the  ancient  clothmaking  of  the  Menapii 
mentioned  above,  and  the  predecessor  of  the  cloth- 
weaving  for  which  Flanders  acquired  a  world-wide 
reputation  during  the  subsequent  centuries.  The 
"  Frisian  cloth "  was  already  exported,  by  the 
Rhine,  as  far  as  Central  Europe  and,  by  sea, 
towards  Great  Britain  and  Scandinavia.  Pieces 
of  money  from  the  ports  of  Sluis  and  Duurstede 
have  been  found  in  both  countries,  and  the  fre- 
quency of  intercourse  with  the  North  was  such  that 
a  monastery  was  established  at  Thourout,  near 
Duurstede,  for  the  special  purpose  of  training  mis- 
sionaries for  the  conversion  of  the  Danish  traders. 
It  is  true  that  the  prosperity  realized  under 
Charlemagne  was  short-lived,  and  that,  a  few 
years  later,  Northern  Europe,  and  more  especially 
Belgium,  became  the  prey  of  the  Normans,  who 
destroyed  most  of  the  literary  and  artistic  treasures 
accumulated  with  such  enthusiasm  during  his 
reign.  It  is  true  also  that  Belgian  unity  was 
destined  to  break  up,  and  that  the  country  was 
to  be  divided  between  Germany  and  France  and 
their  respective  vassals.  But  if  Charlemagne  came 
too  soon,  at  a  time  when  ethnographic  conditions 
had  not  yet  been  sufficiently  stabilized,  and  if 
his  Empire  did  not  survive  him,  his  influence  has 
nevertheless  been  felt  through  many  centuries. 
If  his  dream  of  a  European  Empire  could  not  be 


46  BELGIUM 

realized,  the  mission  assigned  to  Belgium,  as  a 
natural  link  between  East  and  West,  remains  even 
to-day  one  of  the  main  features  of  European 
politics.  History  has  shown  that  no  annexation, 
no  territorial  division,  of  the  dualistic  country 
could  ever  guarantee  peace  between  France  and 
Germany.  Such  a  peace  is  only  possible,  if  the 
intervening  nation  is  allowed  to  play  its  part  in 
the  concert  of  nations,  and  it  has  only  been  realized, 
when  this  part  has  been  played.  Belgium  will 
never  be  what  Charlemagne  made  it,  the  nucleus 
of  a  great  Empire ;  but,  unless  it  remains  a  free 
factor  in  the  history  of  Europe,  as  it  was  for 
the  first  time  under  the  great  emperor,  conflicts 
between  the  two  rivals,  abruptly  brought  together 
along  the  same  frontier,  become  inevitable.  There 
is  a  big  jump  from  the  ninth  century  to  the 
Congress  of  Vienna,  between  the  glory  of  Aix-la- 
Chapelle  and  the  establishment  of  Belgian  neutra- 
lity ;  there  has  been  a  great  deal  of  ground  covered 
since,  but  there  is  a  kind  of  permanency  in  human 
affairs  which  cannot  vainly  be  disregarded,  and  the 
policy  of  Charlemagne  teaches  us  lessons  which  no 
modern  statesman  ought  to  ignore. 


CHAPTER   III 

LOTHARINGIA  AND   FLANDERS 

THE  central  position  occupied  by  ancient  Belgium, 
which  had  been  the  cause  of  its  efflorescence  in 
the  first  years  of  the  ninth  century,  was  also  the 
cause  of  its  decadence  after  the  death  of  Charle- 
magne (814).  From  the  competition  which  arose 
at  the  time  date  the  age-long  rivalries  between 
France  and  Germany  and  the  tribulations  of  the 
territories  lying  between  them,  which,  though 
claimed  in  turn  by  both  Powers,  and  including  a 
half  romanized  and  half  Germanic  population, 
were  neither  French  nor  German,  but  possessed 
an  individuality  of  their  own.  If  these  territories 
had  been  widespread  and  strongly  defended  by 
nature,  like  ancient  Italy  in  the  Mediterranean 
world,  they  might  have  become  the  seat  of  a  new 
European  Empire,  or  at  least  played  the  part  of 
a  strong  third  partner  with  which  both  French 
and  German  rivals  would  have  had  to  reckon. 
This  would  have  entirely  changed  the  course  of 
European  politics  and  perhaps  greatly  increased 
the  chances  of  a  peaceful  and  stable  regime.  As 
it  was,  the  intermediate  country,  widely  open  in 
the  East  and  in  the  West,  too  weak  to  resist  foreign 
aggression,  became,  at  best,  a  weak  buffer  State, 
and,  at  worst,  a  bone  of  contention  between  two 
powerful  hereditary  enemies. 

The  wars  and  treaties  which  brought  about  the 
division   of   Charlemagne's   Empire   show   plainly 

47 


48  BELGIUM 

that  the  creation  of  a  central  Power  was  doomed 
to  failure,  this  third  Power  being  too  vulnerable 
to  resist  combined  attacks  from  East  and  West 
and  being  far  too  heterogeneous  to  maintain  its 
unity.  The  treaty  of  Verdun,  in  834,  divided 
the  Empire  between  Charlemagne's  three  grandsons. 
Charles  received  France,  Louis  Germany,  and 
Lotharius,  the  youngest,  the  rich  region  lying 
between  both  countries  and  extending  from  Holland 
to  Italy,  including  the  largest  portion  of  Belgium, 
with  the  title  of  emperor.  After  the  death  of 
Lotharius  I,  his  son,  Lotharius  II,  inherited  the 
northern  part  of  his  father's  domains,  which, 
for  want  of  a  better  name,  was  called  "  Regnum 
Lotharii " — Lotharingia.  But  both  Charles  and 
Louis  were  already  endeavouring  to  conquer  their 
nephew's  possessions.  Soon  after  his  death,  they 
met  at  Meersen,  near  Maestricht  (870),  where  the 
partition  of  his  lands  was  decided,  Charles  obtaining 
the  whole  of  present  Belgium,  as  far  as  the  Meuse. 
The  death  of  Louis  was  the  signal  for  a  new  conflict. 
Charles  was  defeated  at  Andernach  by  Louis  III 
(876),  and  the  frontier  between  France  and  Germany 
was  fixed  on  the  Scheldt,  Charles  retaining  Flanders, 
Louis  obtaining  Lotharingia  (879).  After  the 
short  reign  of  Charles  the  Fat,  who  restored  for 
a  few  years  the  unity  of  the  Empire,  these  two 
parts  of  Belgium  remained  thus  separated  for  three 
centuries.  It  is  important  to  notice  that  both 
included  Flemings  and  Walloons,  and  that,  on 
either  side  of  the  frontier,  there  was  a  strong 
tendency  not  to  let  Lotharingia  or  Flanders  be 
drawn  into  the  circle  of  German  or  French  policy. 
The  spirit  of  independence  remained  alive,  and 
when,  in  the  eleventh  century,  political  conditions 


FEUDAL   PRINCES  49 

became  more  favourable,  an  entente  between  the 
Belgian  princes  on  both  sides  of  the  Scheldt  was 
the  natural  result  of  the  weakening  of  the  central 
power.  Such  an  entente  brought  about  finally,  in 
the  early  days  of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  complete 
reunion  of  both  parts  of  the  country.  So  that 
the  history  of  Belgium,  from  the  tenth  century 
to  the  early  Renaissance,  may  be  considered  as 
the  history  of  a  small  part  of  France  and  a  small 
part  of  Germany,  which,  after  struggling  for 
independence  against  their  respective  masters, 
gradually  joined  hands  in  order  to  submit  them- 
selves to  the  rule  of  common  national  princes. 

It  would  be  an  error  to  attribute  the  separatist 
leanings  of  the  nobles  in  Flanders  and  Lotharingia 
to  national  feeling,  at  a  time  when  this  feeling 
scarcely  existed  in  Western  Europe.  No  doubt, 
the  resistance  offered  by  the  Belgian  nobles  to 
their  foreign  sovereigns  might  be  simply  represented 
as  the  direct  effect  of  the  feudal  system  and  of 
the  jealous  pride  which  every  vassal  entertained 
towards  his  suzerain.  But,  if  local  ambitions 
became  supreme  in  Europe  in  the  tenth  century, 
we  may  at  least  point  out  that,  owing  to  the  mixed 
characters  of  language  and  race  prevailing  in 
Belgium,  and  to  the  peculiar  position  occupied 
by  Flanders  and  Lotharingia,  nowhere  were  those 
tendencies  more  evident  than  in  these  distant 
marches  of  France  and  Germany.  Just  as,  at  a 
later  stage,  Bruges  and  Ghent  became  the  most 
accomplished  types  of  the  independent  mediaeval 
communes,  the  counts  of  Flanders  and  the  princes 
of  Lotharingia  offered  the  most  perfect  examples 
of  the  restless  feudal  princes. 

The  origin  of  feudalism  is  well  known  and  is 
4 


5O  BELGIUM 

common  to  all  European  countries.  It  springs 
from  the  weakening  of  central  authority,  after 
the  death  of  Charlemagne,  the  increasing  influence 
of  the  big  property-owners  and  the  gradual 
subordination  of  the  small  owners  to  the  nobles 
who  gave  them  the  benefit  of  their  protection. 
Its  development  was  greatly  hastened,  in  Belgium, 
by  the  invasions  of  the  Normans.  These  were 
particularly  severe  in  a  land  which  had  become, 
under  Charlemagne,  the  richest  in  Europe,  and 
which  was  easily  reached  from  the  sea,  owing  to 
the  navigable  character  of  its  rivers.  They  co- 
incided with  the  Danish  invasions  in  England  and 
with  the  Scandinavian  raids  on  the  coasts  of 
Germany  and  France.  It  seemed,  at  one  time, 
as  if  the  invaders  were  going  to  settle  in  Holland, 
as  they  settled  later  in  Normandy.  In  834  they 
established  themselves  at  the  mouths  of  the  Meuse, 
the  Rhine  and  the  Scheldt,  and,  from  this  centre, 
pursued  their  systematic  expeditions  almost  un- 
hindered. Great  camps  were  organized  by  them 
at  Louvain  and  Maestricht,  at  the  farthest  navigable 
limit  of  the  Dyle  and  Meuse,  where  all  the  treasures 
of  the  surrounding  monasteries,  churches  and 
palaces  were  accumulated. 

Lotharius  II  allowed  Ruric  to  establish  himself 
on  the  lower  Meuse,  and  Godfried,  another  Norman 
chieftain,  received  Friesland  from  Charles  the  Fat. 
When  the  victory  of  Arnulf  of  Carinthia  at  Louvain 
(891)  put  a  stop  to  their  activity  and  compelled 
them  to  retreat,  the  Normans  left  behind  them 
only  barren  deserts  dotted  with  ruins,  separated 
by  a  series  of  entrenched  camps  where  tenants 
dwelt  under  the  protection  of  their  masters' 
strongholds. 


THE  NORMANS  5  I 

The  Normans  not  only  hastened  the  advent  of 
feudalism,  they  wrecked  Carolingian  civilization 
as  effectually  as  the  Franks  had  wrecked  Belgo- 
Roman  culture.  Once  more  the  threads  had  to 
be  picked  up  one  by  one,  and  the  fabric  of  European 
civilization  patiently  rebuilt,  and  once  more  the 
Church  became  the  most  important  factor  in  this 
work  of  reconstruction  and  succeeded  in  preserving 
the  spiritual  heritage  of  St.  Amand.  For  the 
third  time,  she  endeavoured  to  bring  charity,  art 
and  culture  into  a  world  of  violence  and  barbarism. 
After  civilizing  the  Pagan  Celts  in  the  third  century 
and  the  Pagan  Franks  in  the  seventh,  she  had  now 
to  civilize  the  Christians  of  the  tenth  century, 
and  this  was  not  destined  to  be  an  easier  task. 


CHAPTER   IV 

REGNER   LONG    NECK 

LET  us  now  deal  briefly  with  the  general  course  of 
events  in  Eastern  Belgium,  or  Lotharingia,  attached 
to  the  Germanic  Empire  since  879.  It  is^merely,  as 
we  said,  the  story  of  the  efforts  made  by  the 
nobles,  who  appear,  for  the  first  time,  as  a  power 
in  the  State,  to  free  themselves  from  the  control 
of  their  imperial  suzerain.  The  aristocracy  was 
divided  between  the  partisans  of  the  German 
emperors  and  those  of  the  local  chiefs,  and  between 
these  parties  no  compromise  was  possible. 

It  would  be  without  interest  for  the  British  reader 
to  follow  every  episode  of  this  quarrel,  but  some 
of  its  aspects  cannot  be  ignored  in  the  study  of  the 
formation  of  Belgian  nationality. 

Two  features  characterize  the  policy  of  the 
native  aristocracy :  their  attachment  to  the 
Carolingian  dynasty  and  the  way  in  which  they 
endeavoured  to  preserve  their  freedom  of  action 
by  concluding  a  series  of  alliances  either  with 
France  against  Germany  or  with  Germany  against 
France.  It  is  easy  to  understand  that,  in  these 
districts,  which  owed  so  much  to  the  Carolingian 
regime,  the  Carolingian  tradition  had  retained 
its  prestige.  The  way  the  descendants  of  Lotharius 
had  been  despoiled  of  their  heritage  by  Charles 
and  Louis  became  the  pretext  for  a  series  of 
insurrections  against  the  new  masters  imposed  on 
the  country  by  the  second  treaty  of  Verdun.  The 

52 


LOTHAR1NGIAN  NOBLES  53 

first  of  these  movements  was  led  by  Hugh,  a  natural 
son  of  Lotharius ;  it  failed  through  the  capture  of 
its  leader.  The  second,  which  was  far  more  im- 
portant, was  led  by  a  native  lord,  Re*gner  Long  Neck, 
son  of  one  of  Lotharius's  daughters,  who  possessed 
vast  domains  in  Hainault,  the  Ardennes,  the 
Lie"ge  country  and  on  the  lower  Meuse — that  is  to 
say,  on  both  sides  of  the  language  frontier.  Re*gner 
may  be  considered  as  a  typical  representative  of 
this  Lotharingian  nobility,  which,  though  defeated 
at  first,  succeeded  in  the  end  in  freeing  itself  from 
imperial  control.  Speaking  both  languages,  he 
was  attached  neither  to  the  French  nor  to  the 
German  party,  but  was  ready  to  pass  from  one 
to  the  other  according  to  the  interest  of  his  policy, 
which  was  merely  to  preserve  his  own  independence. 
Re*gner  differed  entirely  from  the  other  nobles  of 
the  Empire,  such  as  the  dukes  of  Saxony,  Bavaria, 
etc.,  inasmuch  as  he  did  not  represent  any  ethno- 
graphic group.  He  was  the  ideal  type  of  the 
feudal  lord  for  whom  no  interest  prevails  against 
his  own.  Thanks  to  his  alliance  with  the  French 
king,  he  succeeded  in  defeating  Zwentibold,  the 
son  of  the  emperor,  and  established  his  rule  over 
Lotharingia.  His  capital  was  at  Meersen,  near 
Maestricht,  on  the  language  frontier,  midway 
between  his  Walloon  and  Flemish  possessions. 
From  the  point  of  view  of  international  politics, 
his  son  Gislebert  is  a  still  more  striking  personality. 
Threatened  by  Charles  the  Simple,  he  concluded 
an  alliance  with  the  Emperor  Henry,  and  succeeded 
thus  in  shifting  his  position  from  France  to  Ger- 
many and  from  Germany  to  France  no  less  than 
four  times.  He  was  finally  obliged  to  submit  to 
the  emperor,  whose  power  was  steadily  growing, 


54  BELGIUM 

and  married  his  daughter  (925).  Having  risen 
against  Otto,  Henry's  successor,  he  was  defeated 
at  Andernach  and  drowned  in  the  Rhine.  Otto 
experienced  further  difficulties  in  controlling  his 
Belgian  possessions,  and  only  succeeded  by  dele- 
gating his  power  to  his  brother  Bruno,  Archbishop 
of  Cologne,  and  germanizing  the  Lotharingian 
bishoprics  of  Lie"ge  and  Cambrai. 

For  over  a  century,  the  German  or  germanized 
high  clergy  became  the  strongest  supporters  of 
the  emperor's  influence  in  the  country.  Their 
loyalty  never  failed,  and  was  emphatically  ex- 
pressed by  Wazo,  Bishop  of  Lie"ge,  who  declared 
that  "  even  if  the  emperor  had  his  right  eye  put  out, 
he  would  not  fail  to  use  the  left  for  his  master's 
honour  and  service."  Bruno  and  Notger  of  Liege 
(974-1005)  undertook  to  reform  their  clergy  and 
to  encourage  intellectual  culture.  Under  their 
guidance,  Lie*ge  became  once  more  a  great  centre 
of  learning.  Besides  theology,  grammar,  rhetoric 
and  poetry,  music  and  mathematics  were  taught 
in  the  city,  which  could  boast  of  being  a 
"  Northern  Athens."  The  movement  reached 
Cambrai  and  Utrecht,  and  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant chronicles  of  the  time,  Sigebert's  De 
Scriptoribus  Ecclesiasticis — a  first  attempt  towards 
a  universal  history  of  Europe — was  written  in  the 
monastery  of  Gembloux.  The  prestige  derived 
from  this  intellectual  movement  helped  con- 
siderably to  increase  German  influence  and 
brought  to  Lie*ge  a  number  of  foreign  students 
from  Germany,  France,  England,  and  even  from 
the  Slav  countries. 

For  a  time,  the  resistance  of  the  local  aristocracy 
was  overcome.  Re'gner  of  Hainault,^' nephew  of 


BALDWIN    V  55 

Gislebert,  had  been  exiled  by  Bruno,  the  Carolingian 
dynasty  was  supplanted  in  France  by  the  Capetian, 
and  its  last  representatives,  Duke  Charles  and  his 
son,  lay  buried  side  by  side  in  Maestricht.  The 
descendants  of  Re"gner  Long  Neck  nevertheless 
remained  powerful,  owing,  partly,  to  the  marriage 
of  Regner  V  of  Hainault  with  a  daughter  of  Hugh 
Capet,  and  to  the  marriage  of  Lambert  of  Louvain 
to  the  daughter  of  Duke  Charles.  From  the  first 
years  of  the  eleventh  century,  feudalism  prevailed 
not  only  in  Hainault  and  Brabant,  but  also  in 
Namur,  Holland  and  Luxemburg,  so  that  the 
only  means  the  emperor  and  his  loyal  bishops 
had  to  maintain  their  power  was  by  provoking 
rivalries  among  the  nobles.  The  title  of  Duke 
of  Lotharingia  was  therefore  not  given  to  one  of 
Re'gner's  descendants,  but  to  Godfrey  of  Verdun, 
who  succeeded  in  defeating  his  adversaries  at 
Florennes  (1015),  where  he  was  killed.  His 
successors  did  not  show  the  same  loyalty  to 
Germany,  and  when  the  Emperor  Henry  III 
attempted  to  divide  the  duchy  in  order  to  diminish 
the  duke's  power,  he  found  himself  faced  by  a 
powerful  confederacy,  including  not  only  Godfrey 
the  Bearded,  the  counts  of  Louvain,  Hainault, 
Namur  and  Holland,  but  also  Baldwin  V  of 
Flanders  (1044). 

The  date  is  important,  for  it  marks  a  turning- 
point  in  the  mediaeval  history  of  Belgium.  For 
two  centuries  Flanders  and  Lotharingia  had 
remained  separated,  dependent  respectively  on 
France  and  Germany  for  their  political  life.  By 
crossing  the  boundary  established  by  the  Verdun 
treaty  and  interfering  directly  in  the  internal 
affairs  of  Lotharingia,  Baldwin  inaugurated  a 


56  BELGIUM 

new  policy  and  rendered  possible  a  system  of 
alliances  between  the  Belgian  nobles  which  brought 
about  the  reunion  of  both  parts  of  the  country 
under  the  same  sovereign  and,  ultimately,  the 
foundation  of  Belgian  nationality. 

The  emperors  might  have  resisted  more  success- 
fully if  they  had  preserved  to  the  last  the  support 
of  the  bishops,  who  had  been  for  so  long  their 
trustworthy  agents.  In  order  to  understand  how 
they  lost  this  support,  we  must  describe  briefly 
the  conditions  of  religious  life  during  the  tenth  and 
eleventh  centuries. 


* 
* 


When  the  Normans  left  the  country,  it  was 
again  plunged  in  barbarism.  The  monasteries 
were  in  every  way  similar  to  any  other  feudal 
residence,  and  the  ascetic  rule  of  St.  Benedict  was 
entirely  forgotten.  The  abbots  rather  distinguished 
themselves  from  the  other  nobles  by  their  greed 
and  violence.  They  married  and  indulged  in 
drinking  bouts  and  predatory  expeditions.  A 
reform  was  urgently  needed.  Once  more  it  was 
not  accomplished  by  the  high  clergy,  but  quite 
spontaneously  by  the  people  themselves,  whose 
faith  had  survived  the  ordeal  of  invasions. 

GeYard  de  Brogne,  an  obscure  nobleman,  possessor 
of  the  small  domain  of  Brogne,  near  Namur,  after 
a  visit  to  the  Abbey  of  St.  Denys,  decided  to  re- 
store the  Benedictine  tradition.  On  his  return,  he 
founded  an  abbey  on  his  own  land,  gave  up  the 
world,  and  retired  with  a  few  disciples  to  the 
solitude  of  the  woods.  The  nobles  soon  heard 
of  his  exemplary  life  and  endeavoured  to  secure 
his  services.  Almost  against  his  will,  he  was 


RELIGIOUS  REVIVAL  57 

made  to  go  from  one  monastery  to  another  under 
the  patronage  of  Duke  Gislebert  and  of  Arnulf  of 
Flanders.  St.  Ghislain,  St.  Pierre,  St.  Bavon 
(Ghent),  St.  Amand  and  St.  Omer  received  his 
visit  in  turn,  and,  by  the  middle  of  the  tenth 
century,  the  old  rule  was  re-established  from  the 
Meuse  to  the  sea.  The  bishops  of  Liege,  Cambrai 
and  Utrecht  joined  in  the  movement  and,  with 
their  help  and  that  of  the  nobility,  a  number  of 
new  monasteries  sprang  to  life  in  a  very  short  time 
on  both  sides  of  the  linguistic  frontier.  An  extra- 
ordinary religious  revival  took  place,  which  was 
not  limited  to  an  intellectual  aristocracy,  like 
the  reform  brought  about  almost  at  the  same  time 
by  Bruno  and  Notgen  in  the  schools  of  Cologne 
and  Lie"ge.  It  was  not  concerned  with  science  or 
politics,  and  was  essentially  religious  and  popular 
in  character.  The  chronicles  of  the  time  tell  us 
of  many  examples  of  religious  fervour.  At  St. 
Trond,  the  people  volunteered  to  bring  from  the 
Rhine  the  stones  and  pillars  for  the  erection  of  a 
new  church.  Near  Tournai,  a  colony  of  monks 
established  in  the  ruins  of  an  old  abbey  were  fed, 
year  after  year,  by  the  citizens.  At  the  end  of 
the  eleventh  century  a  great  procession  was  insti- 
tuted in  that  town,  in  which  the  whole  population 
of  the  neighbouring  districts  took  part,  without 
any  distinction  of  rank  or  class,  the  people  walking 
barefoot  behind  a  miraculous  image  of  the  Virgin. 
In  order  to  put  a  stop  to  local  conflicts,  so  frequent 
at  the  time,  it  was  enough  to  send  a  few  monks 
carrying  some  sacred  shrine.  At  the  sight  of  the 
relics,  the  contending  warriors  laid  down  their 
weapons,  forgot  their  quarrels  and  became  re- 
conciled. 


58  BELGIUM 

Gerard  de  Brogne  prepared  the  way  for  the 
Clunisian  reformers,  who,  coming  from  Lorraine, 
spread  rapidly  during  the  first  part  of  the  eleventh 
century  through  Belgium  towards  Germany.  This 
new  movement,  however,  which  became  extremely 
popular  not  only  among  the  people  and  the  nobility 
but  also  among  the  high  clergy,  was  bound  to  react 
on  the  political  situation  of  Lotharingia  at  a  time 
when  the  question  of  the  supremacy  of  the  spiritual 
over  the  temporal  power  was  brought  to  the  fore. 
The  Clunisians,  like  most  mystics  at  the  time, 
were  bound  to  reject  any  interference  of  the 
emperors  in  the  affairs  of  the  Church.  They 
only  recognized  one  power,  the  spiritual  power 
of  the  Pope.  In  the  struggle  for  the  investitures, 
all  their  influence  was  thrown  against  Henry  IV 
and  his  German  bishops.  The  latter,  after  a  long 
resistance,  were  obliged  to  give  way  before  the 
popular  outcry  and  the  relentless  opposition  of 
the  feudal  lords,  who  found  in  the  new  movement 
a  powerful  and  unexpected  ally.  French  influence 
had  come  once  more  to  their  help  in  their  efforts 
to  shake  off  German  hegemony. 

*  *  * 

Against  the  combined  action  of  the  Clunisians, 
the  Lotharingian  nobles  and  their  new  allies, 
the  counts  of  Flanders,  the  emperors  were  still 
powerless.  After  the  death  of  Henry  III,  Count 
Baldwin  V  obtained  some  territories  between  the 
Scheldt  and  the  Dendre  (Imperial  Flanders)  and 
the  supremacy  over  Hainault,  through  the  marriage 
of  his  son  to  Countess  Richilda  (1051).  The  Duke 
of  Lotharingia,  Godfrey  the  Hunchback,  the  last 


GODFREY  OF  BOUILLON  59 

Belgian  supporter  of  imperial  rule,  after  checking 
the  progress  of  the  coalition,  died,  murdered  in 
Zeeland  (1076).  His  son,  Godfrey  of  Bouillon, 
sold  his  land  to  the  Bishop  of  Liege  and  left  the 
country  as  the  leader  of  the  first  crusade. 

The  Belgian  princes,  talking  both  languages,  in 
close  relations  with  France  and  Germany,  were 
bound  to  take  an  important  part  in  the  great  Euro- 
pean adventure.  They  were,  as  far  as  the  word  may 
be  used  at  this  period  of  history,  more  European 
than  national  lords.  And  it  is  no  doubt  owing  to 
this  essentially  Belgian  character,  as  well  as  to 
his  personal  qualities,  that  Godfrey  was  chosen 
by  the  crusaders  as  their  chief  rather  than  other 
princes  who,  in  spite  of  their  greater  riches  and 
power,  were  not  so  well  placed  to  understand  and 
conciliate  rival  claims. 

The  same  reasons  which  made  Aix-la-Chapelle 
the  capital  of  Charlemagne's  Empire  gave  the 
leadership  of  the  mightiest  European  expedition  of 
the  Middle  Ages  to  a  humble  and  ruined  Belgian 
prince. 

The  first  years  of  the  twelfth  century  mark  the 
triumph  of  local  feudalism  over  imperial  rule. 
While  Henry  IV,  under  the  ban  of  excommunica- 
tion, found  a  last  refuge  in  Lie*ge,  his  son  gave 
the  ducal  dignity  to  Godfrey  of  Louvain.  Thus 
the  house  of  Re"gner  Long  Neck,  after  two  centuries 
of  ostracism,  came  into  its  own  once  more. 


CHAPTER   V 

BALDWIN  THE  BEARDED 

WHILE,  during  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries, 
the  Lotharingian  lords  were  striving  to  retain  their 
independence  under  German  rule,  the  counts  of 
Flanders  acquired  very  rapidly  a  considerable 
influence  in  France,  and  were  practically  left  free 
to  administer  their  domains  without  any  interfer- 
ence from  outside.  No  duke,  no  bishops  stood  in 
their  way.  They  were  directly  dependent  on  the 
French  kings,  and  the  latter  were  so  weak,  at  the 
time,  that  they  could  not  use  the  power  they 
possessed.  From  this  point  of  view  the  story  of 
the  two  parts  of  mediaeval  Belgium  presents  a 
striking  contrast.  On  one  side  of  the  Scheldt,  an 
enfeebled  and  divided  nobility  struggled  against 
a  powerful  suzerain ;  on  the  other,  a  powerless 
suzerain  was  vainly  attempting  to  assert  his 
authority  over  one  of  his  most  overbearing  vassals. 
There  is,  however,  one  characteristic  which  the 
house  of  Re*gner  and  that  of  the  Flemish  counts 
had  in  common.  Both  owed  their  initial  power 
to  their  alliance  with  the  Carolingian  dynasty. 
Just  as  Regner's  father  had  abducted  one  of 
Lotharius's  daughters,  Baldwin  Iron  Arm  succeeded 
in  abducting  Judith,  daughter  of  Charles  the  Bald, 
and  widow  of  the  English  king  Ethel wulf  (862). 
This  gave  him  a  pretext  to  intervene  in  French 
affairs,  of  which  his  son  Baldwin  II  (879-918) 
made  full  use.  After  extending  his  domains  as 


COUNTS  OF  FLANDERS  6 1 

far  as  the  Somme  and  annexing  Walloon  Flanders 
and  Artois,  this  prince  consolidated  his  power 
by  marrying  a  daughter  of  Alfred  the  Great. 

Flanders  was  definitely  established  as  one  of 
the  richest  fiefs  of  the  French  crown,  in  close 
contact  with  England.  Like  Lotharingia,  it 
possessed  two  essentially  Belgian  characteristics. 
It  had  neither  racial  nor  linguistic  unity,  the  north 
being  Germanic  and  the  south  romanized,  and 
it  was  placed  between  two  rival  Powers,  France 
and  England.  The  counts,  or  "  marchios  "  as 
they  preferred  to  call  themselves,  sought  alliance 
at  one  time  with  their  suzerain,  at  another  with 
their  neighbour,  according  to  circumstances. 
When  the  power  of  the  French  kings  increased, 
they  leant  more  and  more  towards  England,  as 
the  Lotharingian  nobles  had  towards  France  when 
threatened  by  the  German  emperors. 

Arnulf  I,  having  secured  Douai  and  Arras, 
turned  his  attention  towards  Normandy,  but  his 
progress  was  soon  checked  in  that  direction.  His 
seal,  which  has  been  preserved,  is  the  oldest  feudal 
seal  known,  and  the  story  of  his  life,  the  Sancta 
prosapia  domini  Arnulfi  comitis  gloriosissimi,  was 
the  origin  of  the  collection  of  annals  and  chronicles 
in  Latin,  French  and  Flemish  which  formed,  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  the  well-known  Excellente 
Cronijke  van  Vlaenderen.  His  son  and  grandson 
gave  up.  all  attacks  against  Normandy  and  en- 
deavoured to  extend  their  possessions  towards  the 
east  and  south.  Baldwin  IV  seized  Valenciennes, 
in  Hainault,  and  held  it,  for  some  time,  against 
a  coalition  including  the  emperor,  the  King  of 
France  and  the  Duke  of  Normandy.  He  was 
finally  obliged  to  restore  the  town  in  1007,  but, 


62  BELGIUM 

a  few  years  later,  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  portion 
of  Zeeland  and  Zeeland  Flanders  ("  Four  Metiers  "). 
In  spite  of  the  efforts  made  by  the  emperors  to 
fortify  the  line  of  the  Scheldt  at  Antwerp  and 
Valenciennes,  his  successor,  Baldwin  V,  the 
Bearded,  crossed  the  river,  and,  after  pushing  as 
far  as  the  Dendre,  obtained  from  Henry  II  the 
investiture  of  the  country  of  Alost  and  Zeeland. 
This  was  called  "  Imperial  Flanders,"  as  opposed  to 
French  Flanders,  and  the  count,  though  nominally 
subjected  to  the  rule  of  king  and  emperor,  acquired 
from  his  intermediate  position  a  new  prestige. 
Like  the  dukes  of  Burgundy,  four  centuries  later, 
he  only  lacked  the  title  of  a  sovereign.  "  The 
kings,"  according  to  William  of  Poitiers,  "  feared 
and  respected  him ;  dukes,  marquises,  bishops 
trembled  before  him."  When  Henry  I  of  France 
died,  Baldwin  was  unanimously  chosen  to  act  as 
regent  until  young  Philip  came  of  age.  The  latter 
called  him  "  his  patron,  the  protector  of  his  child- 
hood "  ;  he  called  himself  "  regni  procurator  et 
bajulus." 

The  regency  ended  in  1065,  at  a  time  when 
William  of  Normandy,  who  had  married  one 
of  Baldwin's  daughters,  was  preparing  to  invade 
England.  The  mere  threat  of  a  diversion  on  the 
Somme  would  have  prevented  this  expedition, 
whose  consequences  were  to  prove  later  on  so 
dangerous  to  France.  But  Baldwin  acted  as  a 
Belgian,  not  as  a  French  prince.  It  suited  his 
policy  to  create  a  rival  to  his  suzerain.  Far  from 
hampering  William,  he  allowed  a  number  of  his 
subjects  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  enterprise. 

The  marriage  of  Baldwin's  eldest  son  with 
Richilda  of  Hainault  and  of  his  second  son  Robert 


BRUGES  AS   CAPITAL  63 

with  Gertrude  of  Holland  suggested  the  possi- 
bility of  an  early  unification  of  Belgium  under 
the  counts  of  Flanders.  According  to  Gilbert  of 
Bruges,  the  two  sons  of  Baldwin  were  "  like 
powerful  wings  sustaining  him  in  his  flight." 

The  reunion  of  Hainault  and  Flanders  was, 
however,  destined  to  be  short-lived.  Baldwin  VI 
died  in  1070,  leaving  his  widow  Richilda  with 
two  young  children  ;  Robert,  her  brother-in-law, 
rebelled  against  her.  After  his  victory  at  Mont 
Cassel,  where  he  defeated  a  French  army  sent  by 
the  king  to  Richilda' s  help,  he  left  Hainault  to 
his  nephew  and  took  possession  of  Flanders. 

Up  to  then,  the  counts  had  resided  most  of 
the  time  in  the  southern  part  of  their  possessions, 
where  they  had  their  richest  domains.  Robert 
the  Frisian  established  his  capital  at  Bruges, 
whose  trade  was  beginning  to  develop  rapidly, 
and  which  had  opened  relations  with  England 
and  the  Baltic  countries.  The  fact  that  Robert's 
first  possessions  were  in  Holland  might  have 
influenced  his  choice,  but  the  change  marks, 
nevertheless,  an  important  stage  in  the  evolution 
of  Flanders  from  a  purely  agricultural  country  into 
an  industrial  and  commercial  one.  It  looked  at 
one  time  as  if  war  was  going  to  break  out  between 
England  and  Flanders,  as  the  Conqueror,  owing 
to  his  marriage,  had  some  claims  on  the  country. 
Robert,  who  had  given  his  daughter  in  marriage 
to  King  Canute  of  Denmark,  concluded  an  alliance 
with  him,  and  even  projected  a  combined  attack 
on  the  English  coast,  which,  however,  never 
materialized.  He  proved  an  irreconcilable  enemy 
to  the  German  emperors,  and  entered  into  close 
relations  with  the  Pope.  His  pilgrimage  to 


64  BELGIUM 

Jerusalem,  in  1083,  added  to  his  prestige,  and 
the  Emperor  Alexis,  who  had  received  him  with 
great  pomp  in  Constantinople,  asked  his  support 
against  the  Turks.  The  letter  which  the  emperor 
addressed  to  him  at  the  time,  as  to  the 
"  staunchest  supporter  of  Christianity,"  and  which 
was  given  wide  circulation,  had  a  considerable 
influence  in  preparing  the  first  crusade,  in  which 
his  son  Robert  II  (1093-1111)  took  a  prominent 
part  under  Godfrey  of  Bouillon. 

The  rich  and  powerful  Count  of  Flanders  did 
not  remain  in  the  Holy  Land,  like  the  ruined  Duke 
of  Lotharingia.  His  home  interests  were  far  too 
important.  He  gave  up  the  Danish  policy  of 
his  father  and  allied  himself  to  the  King  of  France 
against  the  English  kings,  whose  power  was  rapidly 
increasing.  The  French  alliance  stood  him  in 
good  stead  when,  making  a  pretext  of  the  struggle 
of  the  investitures  and  of  his  relationship  with 
the  Pope,  he  renewed  his  ancestor's  claim  upon 
the  emperor's  possessions.  More  successful  than 
Baldwin  IV,  he  succeeded  in  detaching  the 
bishopric  of  Arras  from  Cambrai,  and  in  spite  of 
the  obstinate  resistance  of  Henry  IV  and  Henry  V, 
in  obtaining  the  suzerainty  over  Cambraisis. 

On  the  other  hand,  by  encouraging  and  protecting 
the  first  Capetians,  Robert  of  Jerusalem  and  his 
son  Baldwin  VII  made  a  very  grave  political 
mistake.  Too  preoccupied  by  the  imminent 
danger  from  England,  they  did  not  realize  that, 
owing  to  its  geographical  position,  this  country 
could  never  threaten  Flanders's  independence  in 
the  same  way  as  France,  which  had,  besides,  the 
right  to  interfere  in  its  internal  affairs.  It  is, 
however,  characteristic  of  the  Count's  policy  that, 


POLICY  OF  FLANDERS  65 

on  several  occasions,  in  1103  and  nog,  they 
signed  separate  agreements  with  Henry  I,  in 
which  they  promised  him  to  use  all  their  influence 
in  his  favour  in  case  the  French  king  contemplated 
an  expedition  against  England,  and,  if  their  efforts 
failed,  not  to  give  their  suzerain  more  help  than 
they  were  strictly  bound  to.  Even  at  the  time 
when  the  alliance  with  France  was  most  cordial, 
the  door  was  never  closed  on  possible  negotiations 
with  England.  To  call  such  a  policy  sheer  duplicity 
would  be  to  misunderstand  the  spirit  of  the  period 
and  the  special  position  in  which  the  Belgian 
princes,  whether  of  Lotharingia  or  of  Flanders, 
were  placed.  Their  diplomacy  was  the  necessary 
result  of  the  central  situation  occupied  by  their 
possessions.  Unless  they  endeavoured  to  maintain 
a  certain  balance  of  power  between  their  neighbours, 
they  were  in  direct  danger  of  losing  their  indepen- 
dence. Periods  of  hesitation  coincided  with  a 
divided  menace.  As  soon  as  the  danger  became 
evident  on  one  side,  the  Belgian  princes  invariably 
turned  towards  the  other.  The  same  reasons 
which  bound  the  descendants  of  Regner  Long 
Neck  to  France  soon  brought  about  a  closer 
entente  between  the  counts  and  communes  of 
Flanders  and  the  English  kings. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  BELFRIES 

ON  several  occasions  in  the  course  of  the  eleventh 
century,  the  constitution  of  Belgian  unity  seemed 
to  come  within  sight.  The  Scheldt  no  longer 
divided  the  country  into  two  distinct  political 
units.  The  powerful  counts  of  Flanders  were 
still  practically  independent  of  their  French 
suzerain,  while  the  Struggle  for  the  Investitures 
had  ruined  the  emperors'  authority  in  the  Meuse 
region,  where  the  native  nobility  was  again  exerting 
its  supremacy.  Both  parts  of  the  country  were 
brought  more  and  more  into  contact  by  military 
alliances  and  dynastic  intermarriages.  In  spite 
of  these  tendencies,  three  centuries  were  still  to 
elapse  before  the  reunion  of  the  various  counties 
and  duchies  under  the  same  house  and  the  founda- 
tion of  what  may  be  considered  as  the  Belgian 
nation,  in  the  modern  sense  of  the  word.  While 
in  France  and  England  the  central  power  was 
making  great  progress  against  the  separatist 
tendencies  of  the  feudal  barons,  in  Belgium  the 
work  of  political  centralization  was  delayed  by 
the  considerable  influence  exerted  on  social  con- 
ditions by  the  towns,  or  communes. 

The  development  of  urban  institutions  in  the 
twelfth  century  was  not  peculiar  to  Belgium. 
Almost  in  every  European  country  the  progress 
of  trade  and  industry  had  the  same  result,  but, 
just  as  Feudalism  had  been  more  feudal  in  the 

6C 


FIRST  COMMUNES  6j 

region  of  the  Meuse  and  the  Scheldt  than  in  any 
other  part  of  Northern  Europe,  Communalisra 
became  more  communal.  The  same  reasons  which 
favoured  separatism  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
feudal  lords  allowed  the  spirit  of  the  guilds  to  assert 
itself  more  energetically  than  in  the  neighbouring 
countries.  The  very  remoteness  of  any  strong 
centralizing  influence,  the  linguistic  and  racial 
differences,  favoured  the  new  regime,  while  the 
resources  of  the  country  and  its  geographical 
position  on  the  map  of  Europe  gave  to  its  trade 
and  industry  an  extraordinary  efflorescence.  The 
communes  found  in  Belgium  a  well  prepared 
ground.  Politically,  they  met  with  a  minimum 
of  resistance ;  economically,  they  benefited  from 
a  maximum  of  advantages. 

Up  to  the  twelfth  century,  it  must  be  remembered, 
only  the  lay  and  ecclesiastical  aristocracy  had 
been  allowed  to  play  a  part  in  Belgian,  and,  for 
the  matter  of  that,  in  European  history.  The 
feudal  system  had  reduced  the  ancient  free  peasants 
to  bondage  ;  most  of  them  were  tied  to  the  soil 
and  deprived,  of  course,  of  all  political  rights.  The 
foundation  of  large  towns  of  50,000  to  80,000 
inhabitants,  whose  citizens  possessed  their  own 
militia,  their  own  tribunals  and  their  own  privileges, 
was  nothing  short  of  a  social  revolution.  The 
merchants  and  artisans  made  their  influence 
strongly  felt  in  the  State ;  they  had  money  and 
military  power,  and  the  impoverished  nobility 
became  more  and  more  dependent  on  them.  The 
spirit  of  separatism  and  local  individualism  passed 
thus  from  the  castle  to  the  town,  and  it  was  only 
when  some  balance  was  re-established  between 
the  different  classes  of  society,  and  when  altered 


68  BELGIUM 

economic  conditions  necessitated  a  closer  co-opera- 
tion of  the  whole  nation,  that  unification  became 
possible  in  the  early  days  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

The  story  of  the  formation  of  the  first  Communes 
is  well  known.  It  is  the  same  in  all  parts  of 
Western  Europe,  though  the  essential  characteristics 
are  nowhere  more  evident  than  in  Belgium.  Trade 
gave  the  first  impulse.  It  had  been  practically 
annihilated  by  the  Norman  invasions  and  the 
wars  of  the  ninth  century.  Using  the  natural 
waterways  of  the  country  and  the  sea  routes,  it 
revived  slowly,  and  we  know,  through  the  discovery 
of  Flemish  coins  in  Denmark,  Prussia  and  Russia, 
that  the  Belgian  coast  was  already  in  frequent 
communication  with  Northern  Europe  at  the  end 
of  the  tenth  century.  The  Norman  Conquest 
was  the  main  cause  of  the  rapid  progress  of  trade 
in  the  eleventh  century.  Many  Flemings  accom- 
panied William  in  his  expedition,  many  more 
followed  as  colonists,  and  a  constant  intercourse 
was  established  between  the  Thames  and  the 
Scheldt.  The  development  of  the  trade  of  Bruges 
was  the  natural  consequence  of  the  increasing  im- 
portance of  London.  Singing  the  Kyrie  Eleison, 
Flemish  sailors  came  up  the  Thames,  bringing  to 
England  wine  from  France  and  Germany,  spices 
from  the  East  and  cloth  from  Flanders. 

Meanwhile,  great  fairs  had  been  established  in 
Southern  Flanders  at  Lille,  Ypres  and  Douai, 
where  French  and  Italian  merchants  met  the 
Flemish  traders ;  so  that  Flanders  was  kept 
in  close  contact  with  the  romanized  countries  by 
the  continental  routes,  while  the  sea  brought  her 
into  touch  with  the  Germanic  world.  Wharves 
and  storehouses  were  built  on  the  main  streams 


MERCHANTS  69 

where  the  merchants  made  their  winter  quarters, 
usually  in  the  vicinity  and  under  the  protection 
of  some  monastery  or  some  feudal  castle.  Though 
the  commercial  settlements  were  more  dependent 
than  the  latter  on  the  geographical  features  of 
the  country,  most  of  the  best  situated  spots,  at 
the  crossing  of  two  main  roads  (Maestricht),  at  the 
confluence  of  navigable  streams  (Lie"ge,  Ghent),  at 
the  highest  navigable  point  of  a  river  (Cambrai), 
etc.,  had  attracted  the  monks  and  the  barons  before 
the  merchants.  The  new  settlements  were,  how- 
ever, quite  distinct  from  the  old,  and  their  popula- 
tion lived  under  an  entirely  different  regime.  The 
name  given  to  them  at  the  time  is  characteristic  : 
they  were  called  either  "  porters  "  or  "  emporia  " 
(storehouses)  ;  even  after  the  industrial  population 
had  joined  the  merchants,  the  inhabitants  remained 
for  a  long  time  "  mercatores." 

The  nobles — especially  the  lay  nobles — protected 
the  traders.  At  a  time  when  landed  property 
diminished  considerably  in  value,  they  were  a 
source  of  revenue.  They  paid  tolls  on  the  rivers, 
on  the  roads,  at  the  fairs.  They  provided  all 
lingeries,  silks,  spices,  furs,  jewels,  etc.  ;  their 
ships  could  be  equipped  for  war.  These  were 
sufficient  reasons  for  the  princes  to  grant  the 
wandering  traders  a  certain  freedom  and  a 
privileged  position  in  the  State,  and  even  to  fight 
any  noble  who  persecuted  them  and  robbed  them 
of  their  wares.  At  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth 
century,  trade  not  only  moved  from  south  to 
north,  on  Belgium's  many  navigable  streams ;  it 
ran  also  from  east  to  west  along  a  new  road  con- 
necting Bruges  with  Cologne,  through  Maestricht, 
St.  Trond,  Le"au,  Louvain,  Brussels,  Alost  and 


7O  BELGIUM 

Ghent,  all  these  places  occupying  some  favourable 
geographical  position.  The  origin  of  the  prosperity 
of  Antwerp  dates  from  this  period,  a  certain  part 
of  the  wares  being  transported  to  this  spot  by 
the  Scheldt  from  Ghent.  The  Bruges-Cologne 
road  eventually  ruined  the  trade  of  the  latter 
place,  to  the  great  advantage  of  agricultural 
Brabant,  which  was,  by  this  means,  drawn  into 
the  economic  movement  then  revolutionizing 
social  conditions  on  the  Meuse  and  the  Scheldt. 
Had  this  movement  continued  to  be  purely 
commercial,  social  conditions  would  not  have 
undergone  such  a  rapid  change,  for  the  number 
of  settlers  would  have  remained  relatively  small. 
But,  already  in  the  eleventh  century,  the  "  porters  " 
and  "  emporia "  proved  a  centre  of  attraction, 
not  only  to  discontented  serfs  and  would-be 
merchants,  but  to  skilled  artisans,  mostly  cloth- 
makers  in  Flanders  and  metal-workers  on  the 
Meuse.  From  the  early  days  of  the  Menapii 
the  inhabitants  of  Northern  Belgium  had  a  reputa- 
tion for  working  the  wool  of  their  sheep.  Under 
Charlemagne,  it  had  already  become  their  principal 
industry.  In  the  eleventh  century,  with  the 
conquest  of  new  "  polders  "  upon  the  sea  and 
the  extension  of  the  area  of  rich  low  meadows, 
the  quantity  of  wool  increased  considerably,  and, 
more  raw  material  becoming  available,  the  cloth 
industry  developed  accordingly.  From  the  build- 
ing of  a  protective  dyke  to  the  weaver  bending 
over  his  loom  and  to  the  ship  carrying  valuable 
Flemish  cloth  from  Bruges  to  London  or  any  other 
part  of  the  European  coast,  there  is  a  natural 
chain  of  thought.  But  the  progress  accomplished 
along  the  coast  may  also  be  connected  with  the 


ARTISANS  71 

foundation   and  development  of  the  first  towns 
and  the  chimes  of  the  belfries. 

In  the  hills  of  the  south,  industry  was  very 
likely  determined  by  the  presence  of  copper  and 
tin  mines.  The  latter,  however,  were  rapidly  ex- 
hausted, and,  as  early  as  the  tenth  century,  the 
artisans  of  the  Meuse  were  obliged  to  fetch  their 
raw  material  from  Germany,  especially  from  the 
mines  of  the  Geslar.  The  industry,  however, 
remained  in  Dinant  and  Huy,  and  coppersmiths 
and  merchants  met  in  these  places,  as  clothmakers 
and  merchants  met  in  the  Flemish  towns.  So  that, 
in  the  early  Middle  Ages,  the  contrast  between 
agricultural  and  industrial  Belgium  was  already 
apparent. 

The  migration  of  artisans  towards  trade  centres 
in  the  eleventh  century  is  as  easy  to  understand 
as  the  attraction  exerted  in  the  present  day  by 
commerce  on  industry.  But,  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
the  union  was  bound  to  become  closer  still,  owing 
to  the  resistance  offered  by  the  old  regime  to  the 
social  transformation  and  to  the  necessity  felt  by 
the  "  guilds  "  (either  of  merchants  or  of  artisans) 
to  unite  against  a  common  enemy. 

Though,  in  some  instances,  the  new  towns 
received  their  privileges  from  the  princes,  who 
rather  encouraged  than  opposed  their  development, 
the  burgesses  were  frequently  obliged  to  fight 
in  order  to  obtain  their  liberty.  The  case  of 
Cambrai  is  typical.  A  settlement  of  traders  and 
artisans  had  been  established  close  to  the  walls 
of  the  episcopal  castle  at  the  beginning  of  the 
eleventh  century.  In  1070  it  was  surrounded 
with  walls  and  became  a  "  bourg "  (borough). 
The  "  bourg  "  was  placed  under  the  jurisdiction 


72  BELGIUM 

of  the  bishop's  officers,  who  administered  it  without 
making  any  allowance  for  new  conditions,  the 
laws  applied  to  peasants  and  serfs  being  vigorously 
applied  to  traders  and  craftsmen.  Meetings  took 
place  in  the  "  Halle  "  (Guildhall),  and  the  members 
of  the  guilds  swore  to  shake  off  the  bishop's  yoke 
as  soon  as  an  opportunity  arose.  When,  in  1077, 
Bishop  Gerard  left  Cambrai  to  receive  his  investi- 
ture from  Henry  IV,  the  burgesses  overwhelmed 
the  soldiery,  seized  the  gates  and  proclaimed  the 
Commune.  It  was  not  a  rising  of  the  poor  against 
the  rich,  for  the  leaders  were  the  richest  merchants 
in  the  town,  neither  was  it  a  rising  of  Guelphs 
against  Ghibelines,  though  the  bishop  had  lost 
much  of  his  prestige  owing  to  his  loyalty  to  the 
emperor.  It  was  essentially  a  fight  of  the  new 
"  bourgeoisie  "  against  feudalism,  of  a  commercial 
and  industrial  culture  against  a  purely  agricultural 
civilization.  The  rising  was  soon  crushed,  but, 
a  few  years  later,  Bishop  Walcher  was  obliged  to 
grant  to  the  citizens  the  charters  which  Bishop 
Gerard  had  refused  them,  and  even  when,  in  1107, 
the  Emperor  Henry  V  tore  up  Cambrai's  charter, 
the  town  preserved  its  sheriffs  and  magistrates. 
The  burgesses  kept  up  the  struggle  for  two  cen- 
turies, until  they  succeeded  in  taking  from  the 
bishops  every  shred  of  temporal  power  and  in 
obtaining  the  entire  control  of  the  city. 

Cambrai  was,  with  Huy,  one  of  the  first 
communes  in  Belgium,  and  the  rising  had  a  great 
influence  in  Northern  France.  It  is  an  extreme 
example  of  the  resistance  of  the  feudal  lords  to 
the  rise  of  the  bourgeoisie.  Generally  speaking, 
this  resistance  was  greater  among  ecclesiastical 
than  among  lay  nobles,  and  in  small  fiefs,  where 


NOBLES  AND  COMMUNES  73 

the  prince  was  in  direct  opposition  to  the  people, 
than  in  larger  ones,  where  the  communes  frequently 
supported  him  against  his  vassals  or  even  against 
his  suzerain. 

While  the  imperial  bishops  opposed  the  move- 
ment, for  instance,  the  counts  of  Flanders  en- 
couraged it.  During  the  eleventh  century,  the 
merchants  had  already  enjoyed  the  protection  of 
the  counts,  and,  in  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth 
century,  the  erection  of  a  wall  surrounding  the 
"  porters "  was  accompanied  by  the  grant  of 
special  privileges.  When  Charles  the  Good  was 
killed  in  1127,  the  people  rose  to  avenge  his  death 
and  besieged  his  murderers  in  the  castle  of  Bruges. 
The  count  having  left  no  heir,  Louis  VI  of  France 
upheld  the  claim  of  William  of  Normandy,  but 
the  burgesses,  fearing  that  the  duke  would  not 
maintain  their  privileges,  opposed  his  candidature 
and  selected  Thierry  of  Alsace.  A  war  ensued, 
during  which  most  of  the  nobles  sided  with  the 
first,  whilst  the  towns  and  free  peasants  took  the 
part  of  the  second.  After  his  victory,  Thierry 
showed  his  gratitude  by  extending  to  all  towns 
in  the  country,  whether  Walloon  or  Flemish,  the 
same  freedom.  Strangely  enough,  it  was  not 
the  charter  of  Bruges  which  was  chosen,  but  that 
of  Arras.  The  towns  enjoyed  a  kind  of  self- 
government.  The  citizens  were  judged  by  their 
own  sheriffs  ("  £chevins "),  the  prince  being  re- 
presented on  their  council  by  a  "  bailli."  They 
had  their  own  seal,  their  own  hall  and  archives. 
They  owed  allegiance  to  their  prince,  and,  in  case 
of  war,  had  to  give  him  military  help.  Their 
rights  were  shown  by  the  gallows  erected  at  the 
gates  of  the  town  and  by  the  belfry,  whose  bell 


74  BELGIUM 

called  the  burgesses  to  arms  when  the  city  was 
threatened  by  the  enemy. 

In  Brabant  also  the  communes  enjoyed  the 
protection  of  the  duke,  but  they  developed  later, 
owing  to  the  agricultural  character  of  the  region. 
The  importance  of  Louvain  and  Brussels  dates 
from  the  twelfth  century,  when  the  Cologne- 
Bruges  road  brought  commercial  activity  into 
the  country  and  when  the  weaving  industry  began 
to  spread  in  the  duchy.  As  for  Liege,  which  was 
a  purely  ecclesiastical  town,  where,  for  a  long 
time,  the  number  of  priests  and  monks  exceeded 
that  of  the  ordinary  citizens,  it  enjoyed  a  smaller 
share  of  local  liberties  than  the  other  centres  of 
the  Meuse  valley  where  industry  was  more 
developed,  and  the  citizens  never  succeeded  in 
freeing  themselves  completely  from  the  bishop's 
authority. 

If  the  imperial  bishops  opposed  the  new  move- 
ment, it  was  mainly  owing  to  the  influence  of  the 
monks,  and  especially  the  Cistercian  monks,  that 
it  spread  to  agricultural  districts  and  that  the 
rise  of  the  communes  coincided  with  the  abolition 
of  serfdom.  The  direct  consequence  of  the  develop- 
ment of  trade  and  industry  was  the  depreciation 
of  the  land,  and  it  became  necessary  to  open 
new  districts  to  agriculture.  The  Cistercians  were 
pioneers  in  this  direction.  They  established  their 
houses  in  barren  heaths  and  marshy  districts,  and 
applied  their  skill  and  patience  to  converting 
them  into  fertile  fields.  Unable  to  carry  on  the 
work  unaided,  they  appealed  to  lay  brethren,  who 
established  farms  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
monasteries.  These  peasants  were  no  longer  serfs 
but  free  peasants,  as  had  been  their  forefathers 


Ph.  B. 


THE  CLOTH   HALL  AND  BELFRY,   BRUGES    (THIRTEENTH-FOURTEENTH 
CENTURY). 


PEASANTS  75 

after  the  Prankish  invasion.  Under  the  super- 
vision of  the  monks  and  of  the  stewards  of  dukes  and 
counts,  who  soon  realized  the  advantages  of  the 
Cistercian  method,  they  created  new  "  polders  " 
along  the  Flemish  coast,  cleared  the  forests  of 
Hainault  and  Namur,  and  reclaimed  the  heaths 
and  marshes  of  Flanders  and  Brabant.  The 
reclaimed  ground  was  divided  among  the  workers, 
so  that,  at  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
a  new  class  of  free  peasants  replaced  the  old  class 
of  feudal  serfs.  The  farm  produce  was  no  longer 
for  local  consumption  alone  ;  it  was  taken  to  the 
market-place,  where  the  farmers  met  the  merchants 
and  artisans.  The  social  transformation  begun 
in  the  town  halls  spread  thence  to  the  country-side, 
and  the  whole  country  began  to  share  the  same 
economic  and  political  interests. 

The  belfry  remains  the  living  symbol  of  this 
rapid  and  widespread  transformation,  and  the 
few  mediaeval  belfries  which  remain  standing 
in  Belgium  date  from  that  period.  Those  of 
Ghent  and  Tournai,  built  at  the  end  of  the  twelfth 
century,  stand  alone,  in  the  centre  of  the  town, 
while  in  Ypres  and  Bruges  (thirteenth  century) 
the  tower  was  erected  above  the  centre  of  the 
"  halles."  In  both  cases,  however,  the  meaning 
of  these  old  monuments  is  the  same.  They  are 
far  more  typical  of  Belgian  mediaeval  civilization 
than  the  Gothic  churches  of  the  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  centuries,  such  as  St.  Bavon  (Ghent), 
Ste.  Gudule  (Brussels)  and  Notre  Dame  (Bruges), 
and  even  than  the  great  cathedrals  built  later 
in  Antwerp  and  Malines.  Belgium's  ecclesiastical 
architecture,  though  distinct  from  the  French, 
is  strongly  influenced  by  the  French  Gothic  style, 


76  BELGIUM 

while  her  civic  monuments  can  only  be  compared 
to  the  Palazzi  publici  of  Florence  and  Sienna. 
They  stand  as  living  witnesses  of  the  heroic  times 
when  the  alliance  of  the  guilds  was  sought  by  the 
princes  and  when  common  artisans  did  not  hesitate 
to  challenge  the  power  of  the  French  kings.  The 
spirit  which  raised  them  has  left  its  mark  on  the 
people,  who  still  cherish  to  an  extraordinary 
degree  their  local  institutions,  and  for  whom 
communal  privileges  constitute  the  very  basis  of 
social  liberty.  This  "  love  of  the  clock-tower " 
is  not  only  Belgian,  or  Italian,  or  English ;  it  is 
essentially  a  European  trait,  as  opposed  to  Asiatic 
Imperialism,  and  may  even  be  found  in  Republican 
Rome  and  in  ancient  Greece. 

It  is  not  without  interest  to  notice  that  this 
European  conception  of  town-citizenship  coincided 
with  an  exceptional  artistic  and  economic  develop- 
ment strongly  subjected  both  to  Latin  and  Germanic 
influences.  While  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
centuries  Ghent  became  the  centre  of  Flemish- 
German  trade,  owing  to  its  privileged  position  on 
the  Cologne  road,  Bruges  was  the  most  cosmopolitan 
centre  in  Europe.  It  communicated  with  the  sea 
by  a  canal,  whose  great  dykes  are  mentioned  by 
Dante  (Inferno,  XV,  4,  6),  and  its  market-place, 
deserted  to-day,  was  then  crowded  with  traders 
from  England,  France,  Spain  and  Germany  and 
brokers  from  Lombardy  and  Tuscany.  Seven- 
teen States  were  represented  in  the  city,  where 
the  Hanseatic  towns  had  their  main  warehouses. 
Ships,  laden  with  stores  from  all  parts  of  the 
world,  took  with  them  Flemish  textiles,  which 
were  celebrated  for  their  suppleness  and  beauty 
of  colour,  and  which  were  exported,  not  only  to 


TOWN  CITIZENSHIP  77 

all  parts  of  Europe,  but  even  to  the  bazaars  of 
the  East.  When  local  raw  material  became  in- 
sufficient, wool  was  imported  from  England,  and 
the  Hansa  of  London  centralized  the  trade  between 
the  two  countries.  England  and  Flanders  were 
thus  brought  close  together,  and  their  commercial 
relations  reacted  on  the  policy  of  both  countries. 
In  the  shadow  of  the  Bruges  belfry,  amid  English, 
French,  German  and  Italian  traders,  a  new 
civilization  was  born,  which,  combining  the  Latin 
and  Germanic  influences  to  which  it  was  subjected, 
was  soon  to  assert  its  own  originality.  Belgium 
had  definitely  broken  down  the  barriers  of  feudal- 
ism. The  same  causes  which  had  liberated  her 
people  had  brought  them  into  contact  with  the 
outside  world. 


CHAPTER   VII 

THE  GOLDEN  SPURS 

THE  political  history  of  the  last  centuries  of  the 
Middle  Ages  is  entirely  dominated  by  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Communes.  Their  influence  is  two- 
fold. On  one  hand,  they  prevented  the  absorption 
of  the  country  by  the  French  kings ;  on  the  other, 
they  delayed  its  unification  under  national  princes. 
By  safeguarding  local  liberties,  they  checked 
foreign  ambitions,  but,  through  their  efforts  to 
maintain  their  privileges  and  through  their  petty 
rivalries,  they  impeded,  for  a  long  time,  the  estab- 
lishment of  central  institutions.  During  the 
twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  they  fostered  trade 
and  industry  by  affording  due  protection  to  the 
burgesses  and  forcing  the  princes  to  follow  a  policy 
in  accordance  with  the  interests  of  the  country. 
During  the  fourteenth  century  they  were  weakened 
by  internal  struggles  between  classes  and  cities, 
and,  through  their  trade  restrictions,  became  an 
obstacle  to  the  free  development  of  the  economic 
life  of  the  nation. 

The  cardinal  event  of  the  period  is  the  Battle 
of  Courtrai  (1302),  also  called  the  Battle  of  the 
Golden  Spurs,  owing  to  the  great  number  of  these 
spurs  collected  on  the  battlefield  after  the  defeat 
of  the  French  knights  by  the  Flemish  militia.  It 
was  hailed  at  the  time  as  a  miraculous  triumph 
for  the  commoners,  the  disproportion  between 
the  opposing  forces  being  somewhat  exaggerated 

78 


a  w 
Q  a 


FLANDERS'  INFLUENCE  79 

by  enthusiastic  contemporary  chroniclers.  But 
its  influence  was  not  only  social,  it  was  national, 
for  it  definitely  secured  the  independence  of 
Flanders  and  of  the  other  Belgian  principalities 
against  the  increasing  power  of  the  French  kings, 
and  this  rendered  possible  the  unification  of  the 
country,  which  was  accomplished,  a  century  later, 
under  the  dukes  of  Burgundy. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century  the 
old  distinction  between  Lotharingia  and  Flanders 
had  practically  ceased  to  exist.  The  emperor's 
prestige,  greatly  diminished  by  the  Struggle  of 
the  Investitures,  was  no  longer  strong  enough  to 
keep  the  Belgian  princes  east  of  the  Scheldt  within 
the  bounds  of  their  allegiance.  The  most  loyal 
of  them,  the  Count  of  Hainault,  would  not  even 
depart  from  neutrality  during  the  war  waged 
between  Frederick  Barbarossa  and  the  French 
king.  "  He  was  not  obliged,"  he  declared,  "  to 
put  his  fortunes  in  the  hands  of  the  imperial  troops 
and  to  grant  them  passage  across  his  territory,  as 
that  would  bring  devastation  to  his  country." 
The  development  of  trade  and  industry  had  shifted 
the  centre  of  interest  from  Germany,  which  re- 
mained purely  feudal  and  agricultural,  to  Flanders, 
which  represented  a  far  more  advanced  civilization, 
based  on  the  free  development  of  the  cities.  When 
the  princes  of  Brabant,  Hainault  and  the  other 
principal  cities  looked  for  an  example  or  for  some 
political  support,  they  no  longer  had  to  seek  it 
outside  the  country.  Even  Liege  was  gradually 
drawn  within  the  circle  of  Flanders's  influence. 
This  lead,  given  by  one  Belgian  principality  to 
the  others,  over  the  Scheldt  boundary,  marks  the 
break-up  of  the  division  of  the  country  between 


8O  BELGIUM 

France  and  Germany  inaugurated  at  the  treaty 
of  Verdun,  and  prepares  the  work  of  centralization 
which  brought  about  the  creation  of  Belgian 
nationality. 

The  policy  of  Flanders  was  determined  by  the 
desire  to  preserve  peace  with  England  and  with 
France,  Germany  playing  only  a  very  secondary 
part  in  European  affairs  at  the  time.  Good 
relations  with  England  were  essential  to  the 
Flemish  cloth  industry,  since  most  of  the  wool 
was  imported  from  this  country  through  Bruges. 
As  the  power  of  the  French  kings  increased,  the 
Flemish  counts  endeavoured  also  to  avoid  any 
conflict  with  their  suzerains,  since  their  northern 
allies  could  not  bring  them  sufficient  military 
help  to  prevent  the  country's  invasion.  Counts 
and  Communes  tried  in  vain  to  remain  neutral. 
Neutrality  was  impossible,  and,  whenever  it  was 
infringed,  Flanders  had  invariably  to  suffer  from 
the  consequences,  either  through  the  ruin  of  her 
trade  or  through  the  loss  of  her  liberties. 

The  House  of  Alsace  came  into  power  at  the 
death  of  Charles  the  Good.  Its  representative, 
Thierry,  had  been  opposed  by  the  French  king, 
who  wanted  to  give  the  county  to  the  Duke  of 
Normandy.  The  Communes,  fearing  that  the 
duke's  attitude  would  bring  difficulties  with 
England,  upheld  the  claim  of  Thierry,  who  pre- 
vailed after  the  death  of  his  rival.  His  son, 
Philip,  acquired  further  territories  in  France 
(Amienois,  Valois  and  Vermandois).  His  influence 
and  his  prestige  were  so  considerable  that  the 
French  king,  Philippe-Auguste,  is  supposed  to 
have  said  :  "  France  will  absorb  Flanders  or  be 
destroyed  by  it."  To  his  suzerain's  policy  of 


BOU  VINES  8 1 

"  absorption,"  the  Count  of  Flanders  opposed 
the  British  alliance,  which  he,  however,  broke  in 
1187,  when  he  thought  himself  threatened  by  his 
ally.  Philip  of  Alsace  died  in  the  crusade,  during 
the  siege  of  St.  John  of  Acre  (1191).  Philippe- 
Auguste  at  once  attempted  to  seize  his  possessions, 
but  his  attempt  was  frustrated  by  Count  Bald- 
win V  of  Hainault,  who  invaded  the  country 
and,  having  been  recognized  by  the  Communes, 
succeeded  in  uniting  both  counties. 

Baldwin  V  of  Hainault  and  IX  of  Flanders 
preserved  a  friendly  neutrality  towards  England 
during  the  struggle  between  Coeur  de  Lion  and 
Philippe-Auguste.  When  the  Count  of  Flanders, 
who  had  become  Emperor  of  Constantinople, 
died  before  Adrianople  (1205),  the  French  king 
hoped  at  last  to  annex  definitely  the  rich  county. 
He  had  given  Baldwin's  daughter  in  marriage  to 
one  of  his  creatures,  Ferrand  of  Portugal,  who  thus 
became  the  legitimate  successor.  As  soon,  however, 
as  he  arrived  in  Flanders,  Ferrand  recognized  that  he 
could  only  maintain  himself  in  power  by  pursuing  an 
independent  policy  friendly  to  England.  Though  a 
foreigner,  with  little  knowledge  of  the  country,  he 
observed  the  same  attitude  towards  France  as  his 
predecessors,  concluding  an  alliance  against  his 
liege  with  the  Duke  of  Brabant,  King  John  of 
England  and  the  Emperor  Otto.  The  confederates 
were  severely  defeated  at  Bouvines  (1214),  and,  for 
nearly  a  century,  the  hegemony  of  France  became 
paramount  in  the  Low  Countries.  Not  only  did 
the  kings  henceforth  rule  in  their  own  estates  of 
Flanders,  but  they  were  able  to  extend  their 
influence  over  the  whole  country  as  far  as  Liege. 
The  wishes  of  their  representatives  were  considered 

6 


82  BELGIUM 

as  orders,  and  the  complete  absorption  of  Belgium 
by  France  seemed  the  foregone  conclusion  of 
their  tireless  activity. 

Two  obstacles,  however,  stood  in  the  way — the 
fact  that  Flanders  drew  from  England  most  of 
her  raw  material  and  the  independent  policy  of 
the  dukes  of  Brabant. 

Henry  III  took  the  hansa  of  London  under  his 
special  protection  and  promised  the  Flemish 
traders  that  they  should  not  be  molested  even  if 
war  broke  out  between  England  and  France,  unless 
Flanders  took  an  active  part  in  the  conflict.  The 
Flemish  trade  constituted  a  large  source  of  revenue 
for  the  English  kings,  and  it  was  still  as  essential,  at 
the  time,  to  the  prosperity  of  England  as  to  that  of 
Flanders.  Since  the  increased  power  of  the  French 
crown  had  rendered  direct  opposition  impossible,  the 
British  kings  did  their  best  to  favour  Flemish 
neutrality  and  to  enter  into  close  friendship  with  the 
only  Belgian  princes  who  had  preserved  their  full 
independence,  the  dukes  of  Brabant. 

The  latter  belonged  to  the  last  national  dynasty 
ruling  in  the  country  and  were  therefore  particu- 
larly popular.  The  Battle  of  Woeringen  (1288),  in 
which  Duke  John  I  succeeded  in  defeating  the 
powerful  Archbishop  of  Cologne  and  his  allies, 
established  his  supremacy  between  the  Meuse 
and  the  Rhine  and  gave  him  the  full  control  of 
the  road  from  Cologne  to  Ghent,  through  Louvain 
and  Brussels,  which  brought  Brabant  into  line 
with  Flanders's  trade  and  industry.  Brabant 
became  thus  the  national  bulwark  against  foreign 
influence  and  the  political  stronghold  of  Belgium, 
a  position  which  it  never  completely  relinquished, 
even  through  the  cruel  vicissitudes  of  the  seven- 
teenth and  eighteenth  centuries. 


BRABANT  83 

If  the  prosperity  of  Brabant  did  not  yet  equal 
that  of  Flanders,  the  dukes  possessed  greater 
authority  over  their  subjects  and  enjoyed  far 
more  independence.  Edward  I,  when  preparing 
for  war  against  France,  fully  appreciated  these 
advantages,  and  gave  his  daughter  Margaret  in 
marriage  to  the  son  of  John  I.  Antwerp  benefited 
largely  from  the  Anglo-Braban9onne  alliance,  since, 
when  the  English  kings  forbade  the  importation 
of  wool  into  Flanders,  following  some  conflict 
with  France,  the  English  merchants  found  a 
suitable  market  in  the  Scheldt  port  in  close  com- 
munication with  the  centres  of  Brabant's  cloth 
industry,  Louvain,  Brussels  and  Malines. 

The  cities  of  Flanders,  however,  were  not 
prepared  to  see  their  trade  ruined  to  suit  the 
plans  of  the  French.  The  economic  reasons  which 
forbade  a  hostile  attitude  towards  England  would 
have  afforded  sufficient  ground  for  an  anti-French 
reaction.  The  crisis  was  hastened  by  internal 
trouble.  The  merchants  and  the  craftsmen  of 
the  Communes  had  not  remained  united.  The 
rich  and  influential  merchants  had  gradually 
monopolized  public  offices  and  formed  a  strong 
aristocracy  opposed  by  the  craftsmen.  Count 
Guy  de  Dampierre  declared  himself  for  the  artisans, 
Philip  the  Fair  of  France,  seizing  the  opportunity 
of  interfering  in  the  affairs  of  Flanders,  declared 
himself  in  favour  of  the  aristocracy.  At  the  same 
time,  he  opposed  the  projected  marriage  of  the 
count's  daughter  with  King  Edward's  eldest  son. 
The  popular  party,  or  "Clauwaerts"  (the  claw  of 
the  Flemish  lion),  was  not  sufficiently  organized  to 
resist  the  "  Leliaerts  "  (partisans  of  the  lily),  helped 
by  Philip's  forces,  and  for  five  years  the  land 


84  BELGIUM 

remained  under  French  occupation,  Count  Guy 
being  imprisoned  in  France.  In  July  1302  a 
terrible  rising,  known  as  "  Matines  brugeoises " 
and  led  by  the  weaver  Pieter  de  Coninck,  broke 
out  in  Bruges,  when  all  the  French  in  the  town 
were  murdered  in  the  early  hours  of  the  morning. 
Philip  immediately  sent  a  powerful  army  to  punish 
the  rebels,  which  was  defeated  under  the  walls 
of  Courtrai  by  the  Flemish  militia,  which  some 
nobles,  partisans  of  the  count,  had  hastily  joined. 

The  consequences  of  the  Battle  of  the  Golden 
Spurs  were  considerable.  It  reversed  the  situation 
created,  a  century  before,  by  Bouvines.  From  the 
social  point  of  view,  it  gave  a  tremendous  impulse  to 
democratic  liberty  throughout  Belgium.  As  a  result, 
the  people  of  Liege  obtained,  in  1316,  their  first 
liberties,  symbolized  by  the  erection  of  the  "  Perron." 
The  "  Joyeuse  Entree  "  of  Brabant  was  published  in 
1354  and  became  the  fixed  constitution  of  the 
central  principality.  Charters  were  enlarged  and 
confirmed  even  in  the  least  industrial  districts  of 
Hainault  and  Namur,  Luxemburg  remaining  prac- 
tically the  only  purely  feudal  State  in  the  country. 
Duke  John  of  Luxemburg,  who  became  King  of 
Bohemia  and  who  fought  at  Crecy,  was  considered 
at  the  time  as  one  of  the  last  representatives  of 
mediaeval  chivalry.  The  Prince  of  Wales 's  motto 
"  I  serve  "  was  supposed  to  have  been  borrowed  by 
the  Black  Prince  from  this  noble  enemy. 

From  the  national  point  of  view,  the  Battle  of 
Courtrai  is  no  less  important.  Had  the  Flemings 
again  failed  in  their  bold  bid  for  liberty,  the  principle 
of  Belgian  nationality  might  have  been  irretrievably 
jeopardized  on  the  eve  of  the  period  when  it  was 
to  assert  itself,  and  the  efforts  of  centuries  towards 


FLANDERS   AND  ENGLAND  85 

the  reconstitution  of  political  unity  might  have 
become  useless.  It  is,  of  course,  entirely  wrong 
to  attribute  the  rising  of  1302  to  purely  patriotic 
motives,  as  some  romantic  Belgian  historians 
have  endeavoured  to  do  ;  but  one  may  legitimately 
believe  that  part  at  least  of  the  blind  and  obstinate 
heroism  displayed  during  the  struggle  may  have 
been  inspired  by  an  obscure  instinct  that  Flanders 
was,  at  the  moment,  waging  the  battle  of  Belgium — 
that  is  to  say,  of  all  the  lands  lying  between  France 
and  Germany,  and  which,  if  permanently  annexed 
by  one  or  other  of  the  Powers,  must  necessarily 
upset  the  balance  of  Europe  and  wreck  all  hope  of 
European  peace  based  on  national  freedom. 

Flanders  did  not,  however,  reap  the  full  benefits 
of  her  victory.  The  peace  concluded  in  1319,  after 
further  military  operations,  took  away  from  the 
county  all  the  Walloon  district,  considerably  reduc- 
ing the  cattle  grazing  area  and  making  Flemish  in- 
dustry more  dependent  than  ever  on  England  for  its 
raw  material.  From  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  the  counts,  who  had,  up  to  then,  sided  with 
the  people,  went  over  to  the  French  party,  so  that, 
when  the  Hundred  Years'  War  broke  out,  Flanders 
found  herself  again  faced  by  the  cruel  alternative  of 
breaking  her  allegiance  and  being  exposed  to  the 
disasters  of  an  armed  invasion  from  the  South,  or 
keeping  it  and  seeing  her  industry  ruined  owing  to 
the  stoppage  of  her  trade  with  England. 

As  early  as  1336,  Count  Louis  de  Nevers  having 
ordered  the  arrest  of  English  merchants,  Edward 
III,  as  a  reprisal,  interrupted  all  intercourse  be- 
tween the  two  countries.  This  measure  was  all  the 
more  disastrous  for  Flanders  because,  helped  by  the 
immigration  of  some  Flemish  weavers  and  fullers  to 


86  BELGIUM 

England,  an  English  cloth  industry  had  been  started 
across  the  Channel.  The  English  were  therefore  far 
less  dependent  on  the  Flemings  than  the  Flemings  on 
the  English,  and  it  was  to  be  feared  that  the  new 
industry  would  greatly  benefit  from  the  monopoly 
created  by  the  stoppage  of  trade.  The  prosperity 
of  Bruges  was  further  threatened,  since  the  pro- 
hibition did  not  include  Brabant,  and  Antwerp 
remained  open  to  British  trade. 

In  1338  the  people  rose  against  their  count, 
and  Jacques  Van  Artevelde  of  Ghent  became  the 
acknowledged  leader  of  the  movement.  These 
risings  differed  from  the  "  Matines  brugeoises " 
in  that  the  aristocracy  took  part  in  them  as  well 
as  the  craftsmen.  Van  Artevelde  was  not  a 
workman  like  De  Coninck.  He  was  a  rich  land- 
owner and  had  great  interests  in  the  cloth  trade. 
His  aim  was  not  only  to  preserve  the  country's 
independence,  but  to  safeguard  its  prosperity. 
Approached  by  Edward  Ill's  delegates,  he  tried 
at  first  to  maintain  a  purely  neutral  attitude, 
but,  when  the  English  king  landed  in  Antwerp 
with  supplies  of  wool,  he  was  obliged  to  side  with 
England.  The  "  Wise  Man  of  Ghent  "  suggested, 
however,  that  in  order  to  relieve  the  Communes 
of  their  oath  of  allegiance  to  Philip  of  Valois,  who 
had  succeeded  the  Capetians,  Edward  should 
declare  himself  the  true  king  of  France.  The 
struggle  which  followed  the  destruction  of  the 
French  fleet  at  Sluis  (1340)  was  protracted,  no 
decision  being  reached  at  the  siege  of  Tournai. 
Edward  was  called  back  to  England  by  the  restless- 
ness of  his  own  subjects,  while  the  Flemish  artisans 
were  unwilling  indefinitely  to  hold  the  field  against 
the  French  armies.  The  departure  of  the  English 


VAN  ARTTEVBLDB  87 

forces  caused  great  bitterness  among  the  people, 
who  accused  Van  Artevelde  of  having  betrayed 
them,  and  in  the  course  of  a  riot  the  once 
popular  tribune  was  killed  by  the  mob  (1345). 
Froissart,  his  enemy,  pays  him  a  generous  tribute  : 
"  The  poor  exalted  him,  the  wicked  killed  him." 

His  son  Philip,  Queen  Philippa's  godson,  vainly 
endeavoured  to  succeed  where  his  father  had  failed. 
After  leading  a  revolt  against  the  pro-French 
Count  Louis  de  Male,  he  was  defeated  by  the  French 
in  1382  and  died  on  the  battlefield. 

All  these  struggles  had  weakened  Flanders 
considerably.  By  chasing  German  merchants  from 
Bruges  (1380),  Louis  de  Male  had  brought  about 
the  decadence  of  this  port  in  favour  of  Antwerp, 
where  the  English  were  soon  to  transfer  the  wool 
market.  Political  persecutions  had  driven  a  great 
many  of  the  artisans  to  England,  to  the  great 
advantage  of  English  industry.  Hundreds  of 
houses  in  Bruges  remained  empty,  Ypres  was  half 
destroyed,  and  Ghent  had  lost  a  considerable  part 
of  its  population.  Civil  war  had  exhausted  the 
country's  resources  during  the  last  years  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  In  the  country-side  the  dykes 
were  neglected,  great  stretches  of  "  polders  "  were 
again  flooded  by  the  sea,  and  wolves  and  bears  in- 
fested the  woods.  The  restoration  of  Flanders  to 
its  previous  prosperity  did  not  take  place  before  the 
middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  as  a  result  of  the 
wise  rule  of  the  dukes  of  Burgundy. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   CATHEDRAL   OF   TOURNAI 

LITERATURE  is  perhaps  nowadays  the  most 
characteristic  expression  of  civilization,  just  as 
painting  was  the  most  striking  mode  of  expression 
in  the  Renaissance  and  architecture  in  the  Middle 
Ages.  We  have  seen  that,  in  the  Netherlands, 
civic  monuments  constitute  a  typical  feature  in 
mediaeval  architecture,  but,  though  it  is  important 
to  insist  on  the  conditions  which  favoured  and 
inspired  the  building  of  belfries  and  cloth-halls, 
the  important  part  played  by  churches  in  the 
Netherlands,  as  in  France  and  England,  must 
nevertheless  be  acknowledged.  It  is  true  that, 
considering  the  intense  religious  life  of  the  Low 
Countries  from  the  tenth  to  the  fifteenth  centuries, 
the  number  of  well  preserved  old  churches  still 
existing  is  rather  disappointing,  but  this  im- 
pression would  be  greatly  altered  if  it  were  possible 
to  revive  the  buildings  which  have  fallen  victim 
to  destruction  or  to  a  worse  fate  still,  wholesale 
restoration. 

All  through  the  Middle  Ages,  Belgium  was  an 
extraordinarily  active  centre  of  religious  teaching 
and  mysticism,  and  nowhere  else  perhaps  in 
Europe  did  the  Christian  faith  penetrate  so  deeply 
among  the  common  people.  Quite  apart  from  the 
intellectual  and  aristocratic  movements  favoured 
in  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries  by  the  imperial 
bishops  of  Liege  and  their  celebrated  schools, 


/'/;.  H. 


THE  CATHKORAL,  TOURNAI   (TWELFTH-FOURTEENTH    CENTURY). 


SECOND   CRUSADE  89 

from  the  deeper  influence  exerted  in  other  parts 
by  the  Clunisian  monks  (eleventh  century)  and 
by  the  Cistercians  and  Premontres  (twelfth 
century),  the  enthusiasm  aroused  by  the  crusades 
is  a  sufficient  proof  of  the  country's  religious 
fervour.  Not  only  did  the  nobles  play  a  pre- 
dominant part,  Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  Duke  of 
Lower  Lotharingia,  being  the  leader  of  the  first 
crusade  and  the  counts  of  Flanders,  Robert  II, 
Thierry  of  Alsace,  Philip  of  Alsace  and  Baldwin 
IX,  taking  a  large  share  in  the  same  and  in  sub- 
sequent expeditions,  but  the  lower  classes  enlisted 
with  the  same  enthusiasm  and  flocked  around 
the  cross  raised  by  Peter  the  Hermit  and  his 
followers.  It  is  reported  that,  during  the  second 
crusade,  certain  localities  lost  more  than  half 
their  male  population. 

Later,  with  the  development  of  the  Communes, 
the  bourgeois  and  the  townspeople  endeavoured 
to  nominate  their  own  priests  and  chaplains, 
civil  hospitals  were  founded,  and,  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  the  mendicant  orders  enjoyed  an  enormous 
popularity,  owing  to  the  familiarity  with  which 
they  mixed  with  the  people.  They  followed  the 
armies  in  the  field,  and  it  was  among  them  that 
the  citizens  found  their  favourite  preachers  in 
times  of  peace. 

The  great  concourse  of  merchants  and  artisans 
in  the  towns  favoured  the  spreading  of  heresies, 
and,  for  a  time,  the  Manicheans,  under  their 
leader  Tanchelm,  made  many  converts  among 
the  Antwerp  weavers  ;  but  the  Church  was  strong 
enough,  at  the  time,  not  to  appeal  hastily  to  forcible 
repression.  The  heretic  preachers  were  fought, 
on  their  own  ground,  by  Franciscans,  Dominicans 


9O  BELGIUM 

and  otner  ecclesiastics,  who  succeeded  in  defeating 
them  by  their  personal  prestige.  One  of  these 
preachers  who  was  honoured  as  a  saint,  Lambert 
le  Begue  (the  Stammerer),  greatly  influenced 
spiritual  life  in  Liege  and  the  surrounding  districts. 
The  foundation  of  the  characteristically  Belgian 
institution  of  the  "  Beguines,"  or  "  Beggards,"  can, 
at  least  partly,  be  traced  to  his  religious  activity. 

This  institution,  which  spread  all  over  the 
country  during  the  thirteenth  century,  shows 
once  more  the  success  of  all  attempts  in  the 
Netherlands  to  bring  the  inspiration  of  religion 
into  the  practice  of  everyday  life  and  into  close 
contact  with  the  humble  and  the  poor.  It  was 
specially  successful  among  the  women,  and 
absorbed  a  great  many  of  the  surplus  female 
population.  The  "  Beguines  "  did  not  pronounce 
eternal  vows  and  could,  if  they  liked,  return  to 
the  world.  They  led  a  very  active  life,  settled 
in  small  houses,  forming  a  large  square  planted 
with  trees,  around  a  chapel  where  they  held 
their  services.  All  the  time  not  devoted  to  prayer 
was  given  to  some  manual  work,  teaching  or 
visiting  the  poor.  From  Nivelles,  the  movement 
spread  to  Ghent,  Bruges,  Lille,  Ypres,  Oudenarde, 
Damme,  Courtrai,  Alost,  Dixmude,  etc.,  and  even 
to  Northern  France  and  Western  Germany.  The 
accomplished  type  of  the  "  Beguine "  is  Marie 
d'Oignies,  who,  after  a  few  months  of  married 
life,  separated  from  her  husband,  spent  many 
years  among  the  lepers,  and  finally  settled,  with  a 
few  companions,  in  the  little  convent  of  Oignies, 
near  Namur. 

Such  was  the  spirit  which  inspired  the  builders 
of  the  Belgian  churches.  Certainly  the  most 


ROMANESQUE  ARCHITECTURE  9 1 

typical  and  perhaps  the  most  beautiful  is  Notre 
Dame  of  Journal,  with  its  romanesque  nave, 
built  in  the  eleventh  century,  its  early  Gothic 
choir  (thirteenth  century)  and  its  later  Gothic 
porch  (fourteenth  century).  It  illustrates  ad- 
mirably the  succession  of  styles  used  in  the 
country  during  the  Middle  Ages  and  the  series  of 
influences  to  which  these  styles  were  subjected 
from  the  East  and  from  the  South.  Most  of  the 
romanesque  churches  of  the  tenth  and  eleventh 
centuries  were  built  either  by  German  architects 
or  by  their  Belgian  pupils.  Though  the  best 
examples  of  the  period  are  now  found  either  at 
Tournai  (cathedral  and  St.  Quentin),  at  Soignies 
(St.  Vincent)  and  at  Nivelles  (Ste  Gertrude),  the 
centre  of  the  school  was  at  Liege,  where  St.  Denis, 
St.  Jacques,  St.  Barthe'le'my  and  especially  Ste 
Croix  still  show  some  traces  of  this  early  work. 
The  main  features  of  these  buildings,  in  their 
original  state,  are,  beside  the  use  of  the  rounded 
arch,  round  or  octagonal  turrets,  with  pointed 
roofs,  over  the  fa9ade  and  sometimes  over  the 
transept. 

With  the  decline  of  German  political  and 
intellectual  influence,  Gothic  was  introduced 
into  the  country  by  French  architects.  In  the 
last  years  of  the  twelfth  century,  Tournai  thus 
became  the  meeting-place  of  the  two  currents, 
and,  owing  to  its  favourable  position  on  the 
Scheldt  and  to  the  material  available  in  the 
district,  dominated  the  whole  religious  archi- 
tecture of  Flanders.  The  period  of  transition 
lasted  over  a  century  and  produced  some  of  the 
most  characteristic  religious  buildings  of  the 
country,  in  which  both  the  rounded  and  pointed 


92  BELGIUM 

arches  are  happily  combined.  To  this  period  be- 
long St.  Jacques  and  Ste.  Madeleine  of  Tournai,  St. 
Nicolas  and  St.  Jacques  of  Ghent  and  the  pretty 
little  church  of  Pamele,  built  by  Arnold  of  Binche 
(near  Tournai)  between  1238  and  1242,  where 
beside  the  romanesque  turrets  of  the  fa$ade  may 
be  found  a  short  central  octagonal  Gothic  tower. 
The  well-known  Church  of  St.  Sauveur  at  Bruges, 
begun  in  1137,  belongs  to  the  same  period,  but 
brick  instead  of  Tournai  stone  has  been  used  for 
its  erection.  The  same  feature  is  found  in  a 
good  many  Gothic  churches  in  maritime  Flanders 
and  Holland,  which  were  too  distant  from  the 
Hainault  quarries. 

Tournai  again,  in  the  choir  of  its  cathedral, 
furnishes  a  good  example  of  Belgian  early  Gothic 
(thirteenth  century),  of  which  the  destroyed 
cathedral  of  Ypres,  St.  Martin,  was  considered 
the  masterpiece.  All  trace  of  the  round  arch  has 
now  disappeared  and  the  columns  are  formed  by 
massive  pillars. 

As  the  Gothic  style  develops  in  its  secondary 
period  (late  thirteenth  and  beginning  of  fourteenth 
century)  the  windows  increase  in  size,  the  pillars 
are  fluted  and  the  tracery  of  the  windows  becomes 
more  and  more  complicated.  The  best  examples 
of  this  particular  Gothic  still  in  existence  are  the 
choir  of  St.  Paul  at  Liege  and  Notre  Dame  of 
Huy  (begun  in  1311). 

The  most  important  and  the  best  preserved 
Belgian  churches  belong,  however,  to  the  third 
period  of  Gothic,  when  clustered  columns  replace 
pillars,  tracery  becomes  flamboyant  and  spires  soar 
higher  and  higher  above  the  naves.  Brabant  is 
especially  rich  in  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  century 


Ph.  B. 


COLLEGIATE  CHURCH   OF  SAINTE   GUDULE,    BRUSSELS 
(THIRTEENTH-FOURTEENTH   CENTURY). 


GOTHIC  CATHEDRALS  93 

churches.  Possessing  its  own  quarries,  it  was 
independent  of  Tournai,  and  can  claim  an  original 
style  altogether  free  from  Hainault  or  French 
influence.  In  this  group  must  be  mentioned 
Notre  Dame  of  Hal ;  the  cathedral  of  St.  Rombaut, 
in  Malines,  begun  in  1350  and  whose  flat-roofed 
tower  was  only  finished  in  1452  ;  Ste.  Gudule,  in 
Brussels,  the  oldest  of  them  all,  with  some  parts 
dating  as  far  back  as  the  thirteenth  century, 
a  flamboyant  porch  and  two  flat-roofed  towers 
similar  to  those  of  St.  Rombaut ;  and,  finally, 
the  great  cathedral  of  Antwerp,  begun  in  1387, 
with  one  of  the  highest  towers  in  Europe  and 
certainly  the  slenderest,  whose  various  stories 
mark  the  transformation  of  style  as  they  rise  to 
end  in  a  purely  Renaissance  spire. 

Most  of  these  romanesque  and  Gothic  churches 
have  no  unity  of  style,  owing  to  the  long  period 
covered  during  their  building.  From  a  purely 
architectural  point  of  view,  they  lack  perhaps 
the  purity  of  some  of  their  French  and  German 
rivals,  but  they  are  all  the  more  interesting  to 
the  historian  and  bring  him  into  close  contact 
with  the  transformation  of  mind  and  manners 
from  the  Middle  Ages  to  the  Renaissance. 

In  order  not  to  split  up  our  subject  we  have 
wandered  from  the  civilization  of  the  Middle 
Ages  into  the  early  Renaissance.  Let  us  now  go 
back  to  Notre  Dame  of  Tournai,  with  her  five 
pointed  towers,  and  see  what  we  may  learn  from 
her  with  regard  to  the  intellectual  and  literary 
developments  of  the  period.  In  the  same  way 
as  the  building  of  its  choir,  in  the  early  thirteenth 
century,  shows  evident  traces  of  French  influence, 
so  the  use  of  French,  among  the  upper  classes 


94  BELGIUM 

and  in  the  literature  of  the  period,  becomes  more 
and  more  predominant. 

During  the  first  centuries  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
French  influence  in  Flanders  was  particularly 
noticeable  in  the  monasteries.  Almost  in  every 
monastery  Walloon  and  Flemish  monks  lived 
side  by  side,  and  it  became  necessary  that  their 
abbots  should  be  able  to  make  themselves  under- 
stood by  both  sections  of  the  community.  Thierry 
of  St.  Trond  was  chosen  by  the  monks  of  St. 
Peter  at  Ghent  "  quoniam  Theutonica  et  Gaulonica 
lingua  expeditus."  Examples  abound  of  bishops, 
teachers  and  preachers  able  to  express  themselves 
in  Flemish  and  French.  The  "  Cantilene  of  Stej 
Eulalie,"  the  oldest  poem  written  in  the  French 
language,  was  discovered  in  the  monastery  of 
St.  Amand  together  with  one  of  the  oldest  German 
writings,  the  "  Ludwigslied."  The  Clunisian  in- 
fluence tended  also  to  spread  the  use  of  French 
in  the  northern  districts. 

The  same  bilingual  characteristic  may  be  found 
among  the  nobles,  who  met  frequently  in  the 
course  of  their  military  expeditions  or  peaceful 
tournaments.  Intermarriages  between  families  be- 
longing to  both  parts  of  Lotharingia  and  Flanders 
were  frequent.  Besides,  most  of  the  large  domains 
lay  across  the  language  frontier.  The  knowledge 
of  French  soon  became  an  essential  condition  of  a 
good  education,  and  the  children  of  Flemish  lords 
were  sent  to  French  abbeys  in  order  to  perfect 
their  knowledge  of  the  language.  It  may  be 
assumed  that,  at  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century, 
the  majority  of  the  aristocracy  was  bilingual.  It 
was  one  of  the  reasons  which  gave  the  Belgian 
nobles  such  a  prominent  position  in  the  crusades. 


BI-LINGUALISM  95 

A  contemporary  writer,  Otto  of  Friesingen,  ex- 
plains that  Godfrey  of  Bouillon  was  placed  at 
the  head  of  the  crusaders  because,  "  brought  up 
on  the  frontier  between  romanized  and  Teutonic 
people,  he  knew  both  languages  equally  well." 

This  penetration  of  French,  not  only  in 
Flanders,  which  was  nominally  attached  to  the 
kingdom  of  France,  but  also  in  Lotharingia 
and  even  in  Liege,  the  centre  of  German  influence, 
is  all  the  more  remarkable  as  it  implied  no 
political  hegemony,  the  counts  of  Flanders  being 
practically  independent,  at  the  time,  and  the 
other  nobles  attached  to  the  Empire.  It  was 
not  introduced  by  conquest,  as  in  England  in 
the  eleventh  century,  or  through  immigration, 
like  German  into  Bohemia  or  into  the  Baltic 
States.  The  race  of  the  northern  provinces 
remained  relatively  pure,  and  the  adoption  of 
a  second  language  by  the  aristocracy  can  only 
be  explained  by  the  intimate  relations  created 
between  Thiois  (Flemings)  and  Walloons  owing 
to  political  conditions,  to  diocesan  boundaries  and 
social  intercourse. 

The  influence  of  French  was  still  further  in- 
creased during  the  twelfth  century,  which  is  the 
classical  epoch  of  French  literature  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  during  which  trade  became  so  much 
more  active  owing  to  the  formation  of  the  Com- 
munes. It  was  not  only  spoken  by  nearly  all 
the  counts  of  Flanders  and  used  in  their  private 
correspondence,  but  it  became,  to  a  certain  extent, 
the  official  language  when  Latin  was  dispossessed 
of  its  monopoly.  Its  use  ceased  to  be  confined 
to  the  aristocracy  and  spread  to  the  bourgeoisie, 
owing  to  the  frequent  intercourse  between  Flemish 


96  BELGIUM 

and  French  merchants  at  the  fairs  of  Champagne. 
All  bills  of  exchange  were  written  in  French,  and 
even  the  Lombards  and  the  Florentine  bankers 
used  it  in  their  transactions.  Its  knowledge  was 
as  necessary,  at  the  time,  as  a  knowledge  of 
English  may  be  to-day  to  all  exporters.  As  late 
as  1250,  it  was  the  only  popular  language  in  which 
public  documents  were  written.  It  is  true  that, 
in  Northern  Flanders,  many  Germanic  terms  are 
mixed  with  it,  but  it  exerts  practically  no  influence 
on  the  early  development  of  the  Flemish  language. 
The  linguistic  situation  in  Flanders,  during  the 
thirteenth  century,  is  interesting  to  compare  with 
that  existing  in  England,  at  the  same  time,  where 
the  imported  tongue  was  progressively  absorbed 
by  the  native,  just  as  the  Normans  were  absorbed 
by  the  Saxons.  Again,  it  is  typical  of  the  pacific 
character  of  French  penetration  that  when,  in 
the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  Flemish 
prose,  having  sufficiently  developed,  was  adopted 
for  public  acts,  no  restriction  whatever  was  placed 
on  this  custom.  French,  however,  remained  the 
language  used  by  the  counts  and  by  their  officers. 
The  documents  of  the  period  present  an  extra- 
ordinary medley  of  Latin,  French  and  Flemish  texts. 
Brabant  was  not  so  strongly  influenced,  partly 
because  the  dukes  belonged  to  the  old  native 
dynasty  and  partly  because  the  dukedom  entered 
later  into  the  current  of  trade  intercourse.  French 
was  used  at  court,  and  a  knowledge  of  it  was 
considered  as  a  necessary  accomplishment  for  a 
nobleman.  But  the  dukes  used  Flemish  in  their 
relations  with  their  Flemish  subjects,  and  when 
Latin  gradually  disappeared,  the  popular  language 
took  its  place  in  public  acts. 


PICARD    WRITERS  9/ 

This  efflorescence  of  the  French  language  must 
be  connected  with  the  great  prosperity  of  Walloon 
Flanders  and  the  development,  in  Arras,  Douai, 
Lille,  Tournai  and  Valenciennes,  of  an  intense 
literary  movement,  including  poets,  chroniclers 
and  translators  endowed  with  a  distinct  originality. 
As  late  as  the  thirteenth  century  these  writers, 
who  had  adopted  the  Picard  dialect,  proclaimed 
their  independence  from  purely  French  literature, 
so  that,  in  their  own  domain,  they  play  a  similar 
part  to  that  played  by  the  Tournai  master-builders 
in  theirs.  The  counts  of  Flanders  and  Hainault, 
among  them  Philip  of  Alsace,  Baldwin  V  and  Bald- 
win VI,  patronized  native  literature  and  even  at- 
tracted to  their  courts  some  of  the  greatest  French 
poets  of  the  period,  such  as  Chretien  de  Troyes  and 
Gautier  d'Epinal.  The  dukes  of  Brabant  imitated 
this  example  and  patronized  Adenet  le  Roi,  who 
was  considered  the  most  eminent  Belgian  trouvere. 
We  still  possess  a  few  songs  composed  by  Duke 
Henry  III.  Nothing  can  give  us  a  better  insight 
into  the  intellectual  life  of  some  of  the  nobles  of 
the  time  than  the  following  lines  in  which  Lambert 
d'Ardres  describes  the  manifold  activities  of 
Baldwin  II,  Count  of  Guines  (1169-1206).  This 
prince  "  surrounded  himself  with  clerks  and 
masters,  asked  them  questions  unceasingly  and 
listened  to  them  attentively.  But,  as  he  would 
have  liked  to  know  everything  and  could  not 
remember  everything  by  heart,  he  ordered  Master 
Landri  de  Waben  to  translate  for  him  from  the 
Latin  into  Romance  the  Song  of  Solomon,  together 
with  its  mystic  interpretation,  and  often  had  it 
read  aloud  to  him.  He  learned,  in  the  same  way, 
the  Gospels,  accompanied  by  appropriate  sermons, 

7 


98  BELGIUM 

which  had  been  translated,  as  well  as  the  life  of 
St.  Anthony  Abbot,  by  a  certain  Alfred.  He  also 
received  from  Master  Godfrey  a  great  portion  of 
the  Physic  translated  from  Latin  into  Romance. 
Everyone  knows  that  the  venerable  Father  Simon 
of  Bologna  translated  for  him  from  the  Latin 
into  Romance  the  book  of  Solinus  on  natural 
history  and,  in  order  to  obtain  a  reward  for  his 
labour,  offered  the  book  to  him  publicly  and  read 
it  to  him  aloud." 

Translations  play  a  most  important  part  in 
the  literature  of  the  time,  and  it  is  significant 
that  Belgium,  from  this  point  of  view,  owing  no 
doubt  to  her  duality  of  language,  acted  as  a 
pioneer  for  France.  Just  as  the  Walloon  provinces 
were  first  to  discard  Latin  in  public  acts  and 
replace  it  by  French,  it  is  among  their  writers 
that  the  first  and  most  notable  translators  may 
be  found.  The  tastes  of  translators  and  their 
patrons  were  very  catholic ;  science,  theology, 
history  and  poetry  proving  equally  attractive. 
Another  characteristic  of  French  letters  in  Belgium 
is  the  importance  given  to  history.  The  first 
historical  work  written  in  French  is  a  translation 
by  Nicolas  de  Senlis  of  the  Chronicle  of  Turpin, 
made  for  Yolande,  sister  of  Baldwin  V  of  Hainault. 
In  1225  a  clerk  compiled  for  Roger,  castellan  of 
Lille,  a  series  of  historical  stories,  the  Lime  des 
Histoires,  taken  from  the  most  various  sources, 
from  the  creation  of  the  world  down  to  his  own 
time.  Soon  original  works,  dealing  with  local 
and  contemporary  events,  replaced  translations 
and  compilations.  Such  are  the  Story  of  Hai- 
nault, written  for  Baldwin  of  Avesnes,  and  the 
rhymed  Chronicle  of  Tournai  by  Philippe  Mousket. 


ROMANCES  99 

The  bourgeoisie  soon  became  interested  in  the 
movement.  But  the  citizens  of  the  towns  enjoyed 
neither  courtiers'  poetry  nor  epics  and  warlike 
histories.  Satire  and  didactic  works  were  far  more 
to  their  taste.  As  early  as  the  first  part  of  the 
twelfth  century  a  priest,  Nivardus,  collected  the 
numerous  animal  stories  which  were  told  in  his 
time  and  in  which  Renard  the  fox,  Isengrain  the 
wolf,  Noble  the  lion  and  many  more  animal 
heroes  play  a  very  lively  part.  These  tales,  in 
spite  of  their  Oriental  or  Greek  origin,  had  found 
a  new  meaning  among  the  townsfolk  of  the  twelfth 
century,  who  delighted  in  the  tricks  of  Renard, 
whose  cunning  outwitted  the  strength  of  the  great 
barons  and  the  pride  of  their  suzerain.  Transla- 
tions from  Nivardus  were  the  origin  of  the  French 
versions  of  the  Roman  du  Renard  and  of  the 
Flemish  poem  of  Reinaert,  written  by  Willem  in 
the  thirteenth  century,  and  which  surpasses  all 
other  variations  of  the  theme. 

The  Reinaert  is  the  first  notable  work  of  mediaeval 
Flemish  literature.  Willem's  predecessor,  Hen- 
drick  van  Veldeke,  is  merely  a  translator.  One 
of  his  most  popular  poems  at  the  time,  the  Eneyde, 
is  a  Flemish  version  of  the  French  Roman  d' Eneas. 
The  number  and  the  success  of  these  Flemish 
translations  of  French  romances  of  chivalry,  in 
the  thirteenth  century,  is  however,  remarkable, 
especially  as  it  was  the  means  of  introducing  these 
stories  into  Germany,  where  they  received  new 
and  sometimes  original  treatment.  From  its  very 
origin  Flemish  literature  acted  thus  as  an  inter- 
mediary between  France  and  Germany.  Veldeke 
was  a  noble,  and  his  works  were  only  appreciated 
in  the  castles.  Jacob  van  Maerlant,  who  was 


I  CO  BELGIUM 

hailed,  in  his  time,  as  the  "  Father  of  Flemish 
Poets,"  was  a  bourgeois  scribe.  Though  obliged 
at  first  to  write  some  translations  from  the  French 
Romances,  he  could  not  but  feel  that  this  kind  of 
literature  suited  neither  the  aspirations  nor  the 
temperament  of  the  people  among  whom  he  lived. 
Turning  from  these  frivolous  stories,  he  sought 
in  the  works  of  Vincent  de  Beauvais  and  Pierre 
Comestor  a  wiser  and  more  serious  inspiration. 
His  ambition  was  to  place  within  reach  of  laymen 
the  scientific,  philosophic  and  religious  thought 
of  his  time,  so  that  they  might  obtain  the  same 
chances  of  acquiring  knowledge  as  the  learned 
clerics.  This  is  the  spirit  which  pervades  his 
principal  and  most  popular  works,  Der  Naturen 
Blume,  the  Rymbybel  and  the  Spiegel  historiael, 
in  which  the  author  deals  with  natural  lore  and 
sacred  and  profane  history. 

In  his  impatience  against  "  the  beautiful,  false 
French  poets  who  rhyme  more  than  they  know," 
van  Maerlant  declared  that  all  French  things 
were  false  :  "  wat  waelsch  is  valsch  is,"  but  one 
would  seek  vainly  any  systematic  hostility  towards 
France  in  the  poet's  encyclopaedic  work.  On 
the  contrary,  on  several  occasions,  he  pays  a 
glowing  tribute  to  the  intellectual  splendour  of 
France,  specially  as  represented  by  the  University 
of  Paris,  and  it  is  not  without  astonishment  that 
we  discover  from  his  pen,  on  the  eve  of  the  Battle 
of  the  Golden  Spurs,  a  eulogy  of  the  French  regime. 

The  reason  why  van  Maerlant  attacked  the 
French  Romances  of  Chivalry  was  not  that  they 
were  French,  but  that  they  were  Romances.  The 
characteristic  of  the  early  Flemish  writers,  apart 
from  the  satiric  poetry  of  Willem,  is  the  seriousness 


VAN  MAERLANT  IOI 

of  their  thought  and  purpose.  They  feel  strongly 
their  responsibility  in  influencing  their  contem- 
poraries and  seldom  abandon  the  tone  of  the 
preacher  or  teacher.  The  most  eloquent  verses 
of  van  Maerlant  may  be  found  in  Van  den  Lande 
van  Oversee,  in  which  he  preaches  a  new  crusade 
after  the  fall  of  St.  John  of  Acre. 

From  the  very  beginning  Belgian  Flemish 
literature  is  distinct  from  the  French,  but  has 
many  points  of  contact  with  the  intellectual 
movement  of  the  Walloon  provinces.  There  can 
be  no  question,  at  this  early  stage,  of  disagreement 
or  rivalry,  for  French  was  only,  at  the  time,  the 
second  language  of  the  aristocracy  in  Flanders, 
and,  as  Flemish  letters  developed,  they  naturally 
penetrated  into  the  upper  classes.  There  are 
few  examples  in  history  of  a  civilization  combining 
with  such  harmony  the  genius  of  two  races  and 
two  languages. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  GREAT  DUKES  OF  THE  WEST 

THERE  are  certain  periods  in  the  life  of  nations 
and  individuals  when,  owing  to  a  combination  of 
happy  circumstances,  all  their  best  faculties  work 
in  perfect  harmony.  They  give  us  a  complete 
and  almost  perfect  image  of  the  man  or  the  land. 
It  is  towards  such  periods  of  efflorescence  that 
we  turn  when  we  want  to  judge  a  great  reformer, 
a  great  writer  or  a  great  artist,  and  it  is  only  fair 
that  we  should  turn  to  them  also  when  we  want 
to  appreciate  the  part  played  in  the  history  of 
civilization  by  all  nations  who  have  left  their 
mark  in  the  world. 

Such  a  period  of  economic,  political  and  artistic 
splendour  may  be  found  in  Belgium  when  the 
whole  country  became  united  under  the  dukes  of 
Burgundy.  The  fifteenth  century  is  for  Belgium 
what  the  Elizabethan  period  is  for  England  and 
the  seventeenth  century  for  France.  Not  only 
did  the  territorial  importance  of  the  unified  pro- 
vinces reach  its  culminating  point  and  the  national 
princes  play  a  prominent  part  in  European  politics, 
but,  from  the  point  of  view  of  economic  prosperity 
and  intellectual  efflorescence,  Bruges,  Brussels 
and  Antwerp  rivalled,  at  the  time,  the  great 
Italian  Republics  of  the  Renaissance. 

Considering  the  common  interests  linking  the 
various  States,  and  their  remoteness  from  the 
political  centres  of  France  and  Germany,  the  uni- 


THE   NETHERLANDS   UNDER   THE    Rfl.E   OK   THE    DUKES   OK   HURGUXDY, 


DECLINE    OF   THE   COMMUNES  1 03 

fication  of  the  country  under  one  crown  seemed 
a  foregone  conclusion.  In  fact,  we  have  seen 
that,  already  at  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth 
century,  the  division  of  the  country  between  the 
two  great  Powers  had  become  purely  nominal. 
Lotharingia  ceased  to  exist  owing  to  the  decreasing 
influence  of  the  Empire  following  the  struggle  of 
the  Investitures,  and  the  counts  of  Flanders 
were  so  powerful  that  they  were  practically  in- 
dependent of  their  French  suzerains.  They  began 
to  take  an  important  share  in  political  life  east 
of  the  Scheldt,  and  would  no  doubt  have 
succeeded  in  uniting  the  whole  country  under 
their  sway  but  for  the  rising  power  of  the  Communes 
and  for  the  political  recovery  of  France.  The 
Communes  substituted  economic  divisions  for  the 
political  divisions  created  by  Feudalism.  The 
efforts  of  the  French  kings,  while  unable  to  crush 
Flemish  independence,  succeeded,  nevertheless,  in 
checking  the  power  of  the  counts,  while  other 
States,  such  as  Brabant,  were  allowed  to  develop 
more  freely  beyond  the  Scheldt. 

At  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century,  the 
Communes,  which  had  proved  such  a  powerful 
means  of  liberating  trade  and  industry  from  feudal 
restrictions,  had,  to  a  great  extent,  ceased  to  fulfil 
their  part  in  the  development  of  the  nation. 
Instead  of  using  their  privileges  to  further  economic 
relations,  the  large  towns  oppressed  the  smaller 
ones  and  the  country-side  was  entirely  sacrificed. 
Internal  strife,  war  with  France  and  the  decadence 
of  the  cloth  industry  had  brought  about  a  state 
of  economic  depression  and  social  unrest  out  of 
which  the  country  could  only  emerge  through  the 
support  of  a  strong  and  centralized  administration. 


IO4  BELGIUM 

On  the  other  hand,  the  French  kings  were,  for 
the  time,  reconciled  to  the  idea  of  an  independent 
Flanders  and  too  exhausted  by  their  struggle 
against  England  to  make  further  warlike  attempts 
in  this  direction.  So  that  when  Philip  the  Bold, 
Duke  of  Burgundy,  became  Count  of  Flanders, 
in  1384,  the  country,  exhausted  by  civil  war  and 
independent  of  foreign  hegemony,  was  at  last 
prepared  to  submit  to  parting  with  some  of  its 
local  privileges  in  order  to  obtain  peace  and 
prosperity  under  a  wise  central  administration. 

Philip  was  the  brother  of  Charles  V,  King  of 
France,  and  succeeded  Louis  de  Male  after  marrying 
the  count's  daughter.  He  was  supposed  to  bring 
back  Flanders  under  French  influence,  but,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  pursued  a  policy  distinct  from 
that  of  the  French.  Once  more,  as  in  the  case  of 
Guy  de  Dampierre  and  of  Ferrand,  the  French 
king  was  deceived  in  his  plans,  and  the  interests 
of  the  country  proved  stronger  than  the  personal 
relations  of  its  ruler.  One  of  the  first  acts  of 
the  new  count  was  to  secure  Artois,  thus  recon- 
stituting the  bilingual  Flanders  of  the  previous 
century.  He  then  proceeded  to  extend  the  power 
of  his  house  by  obtaining,  for  his  second  son 
Antoine,  the  succession  of  Brabant  in  exchange 
for  military  help  given  to  the  Duchess  Jeanne. 
Such  a  scheme  was  opposed  to  the  emperor's 
projects,  but  his  influence  could  not  outweigh  the 
advantages  which  the  Braban9ons  expected  from 
the  House  of  Burgundy.  It  thus  happened  that, 
when  Philip  the  Bold  died,  in  1404,  his  eldest 
son  John  inherited  Flanders  and  Artois,  and 
Antoine  acquired  Brabant  and  Limburg.  The 
latter's  possessions  were  further  increased  by  his 


PHILIP  THE   GOOD. 
From  a  portrait  by  Roger  Van  der  Weyden  (Madrid). 


PHILIP   THE   GOOD  1 05 

marriage  with  Elisabeth  Gorlitz,  heiress  of  Luxem- 
burg. 

The  two  brothers  supported  each  other,  and 
when  Antoine  died  at  Agincourt  (1415),  John 
the  Fearless  obtained  the  lease  of  Luxemburg. 
He  had  previously  intervened  in  the  affairs  of 
Liege  and  received  the  title  of  protector  of  the 
bishopric.  Only  Hainault,  Holland,  Zeeland  and 
Namur  remained  independent  of  the  Burgundian 
House  when  John  died,  in  1419,  assassinated  on 
the  bridge  of  Montereau.  Like  his  father,  his 
policy  had  been  inspired  far  more  by  the  interests 
of  the  Low  Countries  than  by  those  of  France. 
He  resided  in  Ghent  during  the  greater  part  of 
his  reign. 

Philip  the  Good,  his  son,  reaped  all  the  benefits 
of  his  father's  efforts.  He  completed  the  work 
of  unification  by  extending  his  protectorate  over 
Tournai,  Cambrai  and  Utrecht  and  buying  Namur. 
John  IV  of  Brabant,  son  of  Antoine  and  Elisabeth, 
had  married  Jacqueline  of  Bavaria,  Countess  of 
Hainault,  Holland  and  Zeeland.  When  he  and 
his  brother  had  died  without  heir,  Brabant  and 
Limburg  reverted  to  the  elder  branch  of  the 
House  of  Burgundy.  So  that,  after  having  dis- 
possessed his  cousin  Jacqueline  of  her  inheritance, 
Philip  became  practically  the  sole  master  of  all 
the  principalities  founded  on  Belgian  soil  since 
the  Middle  Ages. 

No  doubt  the  dukes  of  Burgundy  were  helped 
in  their  work  of  unification  by  a  series  of  most 
favourable  circumstances.  Within  a  remarkably 
short  time,  many  marriages  and  deaths  occurred 
which  favoured  their  plans  to  a  very  considerable 
extent.  But  it  would  be  a  great  mistake  to 


IO6  BELGIUM 

attribute  their  success  to  fate  alone.  Their  power 
was  so  great  that,  through  political  pressure  and 
offers  of  money,  they  might,  in  any  case,  have 
induced  the  less  favoured  princes  of  the  country 
to  part  with  their  domains.  And,  what  is  far 
more  important,  economic  and  political  circum- 
stances were  such  as  to  render  the  old  system 
of  local  divisions  obsolete  and  to  necessitate  the 
formation  of  a  central  administration  pooling 
the  resources  and  directing  the  common  policy 
of  all  parts  of  the  country.  It  was  not  through 
the  process  of  Burgundian  unification  that  Belgium 
became  a  nation.  It  was  because  Belgium  had 
already  practically  become  a  nation,  through  the 
gradual  intercourse  of  the  various  principalities, 
that  one  prince,  more  favoured  than  his  neighbours 
at  the  time,  was  able  to  concentrate  in  his  hands 
the  power  of  all  the  Belgian  princes. 

It  is  not  without  reason,  nevertheless,  that  Justus 
Lipsius,  the  Belgian  humanist  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  calls  Philip  the  Good  "  conditor  Belgii," 
the  founder  of  Belgium.  If  this  prince  benefited 
from  the  efforts  of  his  predecessors,  if  he  enjoyed 
tremendous  opportunities,  he  was  wise  enough  to 
make  full  use  of  them.  While  enlarging  his 
possessions  and  even  contemplating,  no  doubt, 
the  foundation  of  a  great  European  Empire,  he 
proceeded  step  by  step  and  did  not  launch  into 
any  wild  enterprise  which  might  have  jeopardized 
the  future.  While  building  up  a  centralized  State 
such  as  the  legists  of  the  Renaissance  conceived 
it,  a  State  independent  of  local  institutions  and 
possessing  a  distinct  life  apart  from  the  people  and 
above  them,  he  endeavoured,  as  much  as  possible, 
to  respect  local  privileges,  superimposing  modern 


THE   GREAT  DUKE   OF   THE    WEST 

institutions  on  mediaeval  ones  and  preserving,  if 
not  wholly,  at  least  formally,  the  rights  of  each 
province  and  town. 

The  "  great  duke  of  the  West,"  as  he  was  called, 
"  could,"  according  to  his  own  words,  "  have  been 
king  if  he  had  only  willed  it  " — that  is  to  say,  if 
he  had  been  prepared  to  pay  homage  to  the 
Emperor.  After  some  protracted  negotiations,  he 
preferred  to  remain  a  duke  and  to  preserve  his 
complete  independence.  He  was  Duke  of  Bur- 
gundy, Count  of  Flanders,  Duke  of  Brabant, 
Count  of  Hainault,  "  Mambourg  "  of  Liege,  etc. ; 
he  was,  in  short,  the  head  of  a  monarchic  confedera- 
tion in  which  he  succeeded  in  establishing  a  few 
central  institutions  common  to  all  the  principalities, 
a  private  Council,  the  "  Council  of  the  Duke," 
a  government  Council,  "  the  Grand  Council,"  and 
the  "  States  General,"  on  which  sat  delegates  of 
the  various  provincial  States  and  which  the  duke 
called  together  when  he  deemed  it  opportune. 
The  States  General's  approval  was  necessary 
whenever  fresh  taxes  were  to  be  levied  or  when 
the  sovereign  intended  to  declare  war.  Following 
the  example  of  the  French  kings,  the  duke  was 
nearly  always  able  to  conciliate  the  States  General 
by  giving  the  majority  of  the  seats  to  members 
of  the  clergy  or  to  the  nobility.  The  latter  he 
succeeded  in  converting  into  a  body  of  courtiers 
by  grants  of  money,  land  or  well-paid  offices,  also 
by  founding,  in  1480,  the  privileged  order  of  the 
Golden  Fleece. 

Philip's  external  policy  was  judged  severely  by 
his  English  contemporaries,  whose  views  are  no 
doubt  reflected  in  the  First  Part  of  Shakespeare's 
Henry  VI,  where  we  see  Burgundy  abandoning 


lo8  BELGIUM 

his  allies  at  the  instigation  of  the  Maid  of  Orleans. 
His  "  betrayal "  was  followed  by  riots  in  London, 
during  which  some  Flemish  and  Walloon  merchants 
lost  their  lives.  Considered,  however,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  period,  when  diplomacy  and 
politics  were  not  inspired  by  a  particularly  keen 
sense  of  justice  and  morality,  the  duke's  decision 
is  easy  to  explain.  Drawn  into  the  English  alliance 
by  the  traditional  policy  of  Flanders,  which  always 
sought  support  in  this  country  against  France, 
and  by  the  murder  of  his  father,  for  which  he 
sought  revenge,  he  never  lost  sight  of  the  possible 
threat  to  his  power  and  independence  which  an 
overwhelming  English  victory  might  constitute 
some  day.  English  ambitions  in  the  Low  Countries 
had  been  made  evident  by  the  expedition  of  the 
Duke  of  Gloucester,  Henry  V's  brother,  who  had 
championed  Jacqueline  of  Bavaria's  cause  against 
the  duke.  A  permanent  union  of  Hainault,  Bra- 
bant and  Holland,  under  English  protection,  had 
even  been  contemplated.  It  would,  therefore,  have 
been  contrary  to  Burgundian  and  to  Belgian 
interests,  if  the  power  of  France  had  been  abso- 
lutely and  irremediably  crushed,  since  such  a 
victory  would  have  upset  the  balance  of  Western 
power,  on  which  the  very  existence  of  the  new 
confederation  depended. 

Philip's  quarrel  with  Henry  VI  was,  however, 
short-lived,  and,  during  the  last  part  of  his  reign, 
he  succeeded  in  re-establishing  the  Anglo-Burgun- 
dian  alliance  on  a  sounder  basis.  His  wife, 
Isabella  of  Portugal,  a  granddaughter  of  John 
of  Gaunt,  used  her  influence  to  bring  about  a 
reconciliation  and  the  resumption  of  trade  re- 
lations. The  marriage  of  Charles,  son  of  Philip, 


CHARLES  THE   BOLD. 
From  a  portrait  by  Roger  Van  der  Weyden  (Beilin  Museum). 


CHARLES    THE   BOLD  ICXJ 

with  Margaret  of  York,  sister  of  Edward  IV, 
which  was  celebrated  in  Bruges  in  1463  amidst 
an  amazing  display  of  luxury,  definitely  sealed 
the  bond  of  union. 

For  France  had  recovered  from  her  trials ;  and 
when  he  succeeded  his  father,  Charles,  surnamed 
the  Bold,  was  confronted  by  an  adversary  all 
the  more  formidable  that,  through  his  impulsive 
temperament,  he  literally  played  into  the  hands 
of  the  cunning  French  king.  Faced,  as  Philip 
had  been,  by  the  opposition  of  the  Communes 
and  by  the  separatist  tendencies  of  certain  towns, 
the  new  duke,  scorning  diplomacy,  tried  to  impose 
his  will  through  sheer  force  and  terrorism.  The 
sack  of  Dinant  in  1466  was  destined  to  serve  as 
an  example  to  Liege,  where  the  agents  of  King 
Louis  maintained  a  constant  agitation.  Two 
years  later,  the  duke  obliged  his  rival  to  witness 
the  burning  and  pillage  of  the  latter  city,  which 
had  revolted  for  a  second  time,  following  the 
instigations  of  the  French. 

Charles  might  have  resisted  his  enemy's  in- 
trigues, if  he  had  limited  his  ambitions  to  the 
Low  Countries.  Like  his  father,  he  entered  into 
negotiations  with  the  Emperor  with  the  hope  of 
acquiring  the  title  of  king.  His  Burgundian 
domains  were  separated  from  the  Low  Countries 
by  Alsace  and  Lorraine.  Had  he  been  able  to 
join  Low  and  High  Burgundy  through  these 
lands,  he  would  have  very  nearly  reconstituted 
the  old  kingdom  of  Lotharingia,  by  unifying 
all  the  borderlands  lying  between  France  and 
Germany,  from  the  North  Sea  to  the  Mediterranean. 
The  success  of  such  an  enterprise  might  have  had 
incalculable  consequences.  But  Charles  was  the 


IIO  BELGIUM 

last  man  to  succeed  in  an  endeavour  requiring  at 
least  as  much  skill  and  diplomacy  as  material 
resources.  He  obtained  rights  upon  Alsace  and 
conquered  Lorraine,  but  fell  an  easy  prey  to  Louis 
XI 's  artifices  by  launching  an  expedition  against 
the  Swiss.  Defeated  at  Granson  and  Morat,  he 
was  killed  before  Nancy,  leaving  the  whole  re- 
sponsibility of  his  heavy  succession  to  his  young 
daughter  Mary. 

According  to  Philip  de  Commines :  "  He  tried 
so  many  things  that  he  could  not  live  long  enough 
to  carry  them  through,  and  they  were  indeed 
almost  impossible  enterprises."  But  his  external 
policy  remained  all  through  perfectly  consistent. 
He  was  a  faithful  friend  to  the  House  of  York 
and  gave  his  support  to  Edward  IV,  with  whom 
he  intended  to  divide  France,  had  he  succeeded 
in  conquering  Louis. 

Philip  the  Good,  by  his  work  of  territorial 
consolidation,  had  succeeded  in  obliterating  from 
the  map  of  Europe  the  frontier  of  the  Scheldt, 
which,  since  the  Treaty  of  Verdun,  had  divided 
the  country  between  France  and  Germany. 
Charles  the  Bold  failed  in  reconstituting  the 
short-lived  kingdom  of  Lotharius,  which  had 
stood,  for  a  few  years,  as  a  barrier  between  the 
two  rival  Powers.  Such  a  dream  was  indeed 
outside  the  scope  of  practical  politics,  though, 
considered  from  the  point  of  view  of  language 
and  race,  it  was  not  entirely  unjustifiable,  the 
population  of  the  Rhine  sharing  with  that  of  the 
Low  Countries  both  their  Romanic  and  Germanic 
characteristics,  and  asserting  from  time  to  time 
their  desire  to  lead  a  free  and  independent  life. 
This  desire  was  never  fulfilled,  owing  partly  to 


POSITION   OF  BELGIUM  III 

the  main  direction  of  the  line  of  race-demarcation 
running  from  north  to  south,  parallel  to  the 
political  frontier,  and  partly  to  the  narrowness 
of  the  strip  of  territory  involved.  Had  such  a 
boundary  extended  through  Belgium  along  the 
Scheldt,  for  instance,  instead  of  being  deflected 
from  Cologne  to  Boulogne,  the  same  result  would 
have  occurred.  Belgium  owes  her  independent 
state  to  the  presence  of  the  Coal  Wood  which, 
in  the  fourth  century,  broke  the  invaders'  efforts 
along  a  line  running  from  east  to  west  across 
political  frontiers,  not  parallel  to  them.  Thanks 
to  the  exceptional  richness  of  her  widespread 
plain,  easily  accessible  from  the  sea,  she  remains, 
in  modern  times,  as  the  last  fragment  of  the 
great  Empire  of  Lotharius,  which,  for  a  few 
years,  gathered  under  one  rule  all  the  borderlands 
of  Western  Europe. 


CHAPTER    X 

THE  TOWN   HALLS 

THE  most  characteristic  monument  of  the  fifteenth 
century  in  Belgium  is  the  Town  Hall,  just  as 
the  most  characteristic  monument  of  the  two 
preceding  centuries  is  the  belfry,  with,  or  without, 
its  Cloth  Hall. 

It  may  seem  strange  that  it  should  be  left  to 
great  municipal  palaces  to  express  the  spirit  of 
a  period  of  centralization,  when  local  privileges 
were  progressively  sacrificed  to  the  general  in- 
terest of  the  State,  and  when  the  prince  gathered 
under  one  sway  the  various  States  among  which 
the  Netherlands  had  been  divided.  When  looking 
at  the  Gothic  Town  Halls  of  Brussels,  Louvain 
and  Bruges,  with  their  flowered  traceries  and 
luxury  of  ornament,  one  might  be  misled  into 
taking  them  for  the  palaces  of  the  prince  rather 
than  for  the  expression  of  municipal  freedom. 
There  is  nothing  about  them  of  the  strength  and 
defiance  expressed  in  the  great  "  halles "  and 
belfries  of  Ypres,  Bruges  and  Ghent.  The  latter 
were,  as  we  have  seen,  erected  for  two  purposes. 
They  were,  so  to  speak,  a  central  citadel  raised 
in  the  middle  of  the  town,  from  the  towers  of 
which  the  sentinel  sounded  the  alarm  and  called 
the  citizens  to  arms  to  defend  their  privileges 
and  protect  their  homes  against  the  attacks  of 
any  enemy  from  outside,  not  excluding  the  prince 
himself.  Behind  their  thick  walls  and  battle- 
s'? 


GOTHIC   TOWN  HALLS  113 

ments,  the  archives  and  charters  of  the  towns 
were  jealously  preserved.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
"  halles  "  afforded  a  meeting-place  for  foreign  and 
local  merchants  and  a  warehouse  where  their 
goods  were  stored.  They  constituted  fortified 
covered  markets,  and  the  combination  of  these 
military  and  economic  characteristics  is  visible 
in  every  outline  of  the  building  and  reveals  the 
dominant  aspirations  of  an  age  which  succeeded 
in  emancipating  the  city  from  the  autocratic 
rule  of  the  suzerain  and  in  safeguarding  the  trade 
and  industry  of  its  inhabitants. 

None  of  these  features  is  apparent  in  the 
"  hotels  de  ville "  of  the  Burgundian  period. 
Their  slender  outline  and  small  proportions  exclude 
any  idea  of  defence.  Compare,  for  instance,  the 
graceful  spire  of  Brussels  with  the  proud  and 
massive  belfry  of  Bruges,  and  the  almost  feminine 
aspect  of  the  Louvain  Town  Hall  with  the  forbidding 
masculinity  of  the  destroyed  Ypres  Cloth  Hall. 
Again,  the  profusion  of  ornament  and  statuettes, 
the  delicate  flanking  towers,  especially  in  Bruges 
and  Louvain,  contrast  with  the  austerity  of  the 
old  "  halles."  These  luxurious  mansions  were 
built  neither  for  military  nor  for  economic  purposes. 
They  are  far  too  small  to  be  of  any  use  as  covered 
markets.  In  fact,  the  new  municipal  buildings  of 
the  fifteenth  century  only  preserved  one  charac- 
teristic of  their  predecessors.  They  were  still  the 
seat  of  the  "  e'chevinage,"  and  it  was  within  their 
walls  that  the  magistrates  of  the  town  met  the 
duke's  representative,  the  "  bailli." 

Economic  activity  had  left  the  central  hall 
and  migrated  to  the  Exchange.  The  achieve- 
ment of  the  Hotels  de  Ville  of  Brussels  (1454) 

8 


114  BELGIUM 

and  Lou  vain  (1463)  coincides  with  the  foundation 
of  the  first  European  Exchange  in  Antwerp  (1460). 
In  this  transformation  of  the  municipal  buildings 
from  the  Middle  Ages  to  the  early  Renaissance, 
we  may  read  a  parallel  transformation  in  political 
and  social  institutions.  The  municipal  spirit  was 
still  predominant,  and  the  resistance  made  by 
Bruges  in  1436,  and  still  more  energetically  by 
Ghent  from  1450  to  1453,  to  the  increasing  in- 
fluence of  Philip  the  Good,  shows  clearly  that 
the  communal  spirit  was  still  prevalent,  especially 
in  the  old  towns.  |  But  the  relatively  more  modern 
towns,  such  as  Brussels  and  Antwerp,  were  ready 
to  accept  the  beneficial  protection  of  the  princes. 
The  villages  and  the  country,  which  had  suffered 
for  a  long  time  from  the  tyranny  of  the  large 
towns,  were  all  on  his  side.  The  transformation 
of  industry  and  trade  contributed  to  break  down 
local  mediaeval  customs  and  privileges,  to  the 
greater  benefit  of  the  State.  J  The  result  was  a 
compromise,  and  it  is  that  compromise  which  is 
revealed  by  Burgundian  municipal  architecture. 
The  town  was  still  exalted,  but  it  was  no  longer 
the  free  defiant  town  which  wrested  its  charters 
from  a  reluctant  suzerain ;  it  was,  if  one  may  so 
express  it,  a  tamed  town,  developing  its  resources 
under  the  protection  and  the  control  of  its  master, 
while  still  keeping  alive  its  pride  by  a  great  display 
of  luxury.  The  failure  of  the  Ghent  revolt  marked 
the  decline  of  the  communal  militias,  which  were 
no  longer  able  to  resist  the  well  disciplined  ducal 
mercenary  army.  The  defeat  of  Gavere  (1453) 
sealed  the  fate  of  citizen  armies,  just  as  the  Battle 
of  the  Golden  Spurs  (1302)  had  revealed  their 
strength. 


POLICY   OF   THE   DUKES  1 15 

It  must,  however,  be  remarked  that  this  success 
was  only  obtained  by  a  complete  change  of  policy 
on  the  part  of  the  dukes.  They  no  longer,  like 
their  mediaeval  predecessors,  opposed  the  develop- 
ment of  the  towns  by  oppressive  measures.  On 
the  contrary,  they  did  all  in  their  power  to  protect 
and  expand  this  prosperity,  not  only  by  securing 
peace  and  commercial  liberty,  but  also  by  taking 
special  measures  in  case  of  emergency.  Philip 
the  Good,  on  several  occasions,  attempted  to 
arrest  the  decadence  of  Ypres  caused  by  the 
development  of  the  English  cloth  industry.  \  In 
spite  of  the  opposition  of  Ghent  and  Ypres,  Charles 
the  Bold  undertook  important  works  in  order  to 
dredge  the  estuary  of  the  Zwyn,  which  was  rapidly 
silting  up,  and  thus  to  keep  open,  if  possible, 
the  port  of  Bruges.  |  At  the  same  time,  the  dukes 
encouraged  the  trade  of  Antwerp  and  gave  the 
first  impulse  to  the  maritime  activity  of  the  ports 
of  Holland.  The  Burgundian  princes  did  not 
live  isolated  in  their  feudal  castles  ;  they  made 
it  a  rule  to  reside  in  their  large  towns,  either 
Ghent,  Bruges  or  Brussels,  where  they  held  their 
courts  and  where  they  contributed,  by  their 
display  of  luxury,  to  the  general  prosperity.  This 
solicitude  for  the  welfare  of  the  large  towns  was 
not  altogether  disinterested.  The  dukes  realized 
that  their  power  rested  not  so  much  on  their 
military  forces  as  on  their  wealth,  and  that  their 
wealth  depended  on  the  riches  of  their  towns. 
They  understood,  according  to  a  contemporary 
historian  (Chastellain),  that  "  in  the  fullness  of 
substance  and  money,  not  in  dignities  and  high- 
ness of  their  rank,  lay  the  glory  and  the  power 
of  princes." 


Il6  BELGIUM 

The  substitution  of  the  Renaissance  Hotel  de 
Ville  for  the  old  Cloth  Hall  is  also  the  symbol 
of  the  decline  of  the  cloth  industry.  The  wool 
industry  in  Flanders  had  passed  through  three 
consecutive  stages  which  directly  affected  the 
relationships  between  Belgium  and  England.  We 
have  seen  how,  during  the  early  Middle  Ages, 
Flemish  wool  being  sufficient  for  Flemish  looms, 
the  cloth  industry  was  almost  entirely  independent, 
and  how,  as  the  industry  increased,  Flemish 
weavers  depended  more  and  more  on  the  imports 
of  English  wool  during  the  thirteenth  and  four- 
teenth centuries.  During  the  fourteenth  century, 
however,  owing  partly  to  the  immigration  of 
Flemish  weavers  encouraged  by  Edward  III  and 
partly  to  the  natural  course  of  events,  which  must 
induce  a  country  to  work  up  its  own  raw  material, 
the  English  cloth  industry  had  become  very  active, 
and  the  quantity  of  wool  available  for  Flanders  con- 
sequently decreased,  while  its  price  increased,  and 
the  Flemish  industry  was  faced  by  the  double  diffi- 
culty of  preserving  its  market  from  the  import 
of  English  cloth,  through  Hanseatic  ships,  and 
of  obtaining  the  necessary  raw  material.  The 
restrictive  measures  taken  against  the  import  of 
English  cloth  proved  ineffectual,  and  Spanish 
wool,  which  was  tried  as  a  substitute  for  English, 
was  of  inferior  quality.  Ypres  was  the  first  to 
suffer,  in  spite  of  the  solicitude  of  the  dukes,  who 
reduced  commercial  taxes  in  its  favour.  Its 
population  fell  from  12,000  in  1412  to  10,000  in 
1470,  and  in  1486  one-third  of  its  inhabitants 
were  reduced  to  begging.  Bruges  succeeded  in 
maintaining  herself  for  a  time  through  her  banking 
establishments,  while  Ghent  benefited  from  the 


LINEN  AND   TAPESTRY  IIJ 

staple  of  grain,  Brussels  from  the  presence  of 
the  dukes,  Malines  from  its  parliament,  Louvain 
from  its  newly  created  university  and  Antwerp 
from  its  rising  trade. 

Besides,  when  the  resistance  to  English  rivalry 
proved  fruitless,  in  spite  of  the  repeated  prohibitions 
decreed  by  Philip  the  Good,  the  country  turned, 
with  extraordinary  adaptability,  to  the  linen 
industry  as  a  substitute  for  the  woollen.  Linen 
replaced  cloth,  and  the  same  processes  and  looms 
which  had  been  applied  to  the  old  industry  were 
successfully  applied  to  the  new.  Clothmaking 
took  refuge  either  in  the  Flemish  country  districts, 
where  the  wages  were  lower,  or  in  some  remote 
parts  of  the  Walloon  country.  The  existence  of 
Verviers  as  a  clothmaking  town  dates  from  1480. 
The  decline  of  the  cloth  industry  was  also  to  a 
certain  extent  compensated  for  by  the  introduc- 
tion in  Northern  Flanders  and  in  Brabant  of 
tapestry,  whose  centres,  until  then,  had  been  in 
Arras  and  Tournai. 


I  have  already  alluded  to  the  ornamental 
character  of  Burgundian  Gothic  contrasting  with 
the  severity  of  the  communal  period.  Luxury 
rather  than  strength  is  aimed  at  by  the  architects 
of  the  hotels  de  ville  and  other  well-known  monu- 
ments of  the  period,  such  as  the  Hotel  Gruthuse 
and  the  Chapelle  du  Saint  Sang  in  Bruges.  This 
richness  is  real,  and  not  artificially  confined  to  the 
prince  and  the  upper  classes  of  society. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Burgundian  regime, 
under  Philip  the  Bold,  Flanders  was  partially 


Il8  BELGIUM 

ruined  by  internal  and  external  wars.  Its  towns 
were  depleted  of  their  craftsmen,  its  polders  con- 
verted into  marshes  by  the  incursions  of  the  sea, 
and  wolves  and  wild  boars  again  wandered  through 
the  country  as  in  the  early  Middle  Ages.  Brabant, 
Holland,  Zeeland  and  Lie*ge,  though  less  severely 
affected,  passed  through  a  time  of  strife  and  civil 
war.  Fifty  years  later  (about  1430),  the  Low 
Countries  were  again  the  most  prosperous  States 
of  Europe,  and  the  historian  Philip  de  Commines 
was  able  to  call  them  "  a  land  of  promise,"  while 
Gachard  contrasts  them  with  the  southern  domains 
of  the  duke,  "  Burgundy,  which  lacks  money 
and  smells  of  France."  Chastellain  eloquently 
vaunts  their  banquets  and  gorgeous  festivities. 
The  dukes  themselves  took  every  opportunity  to 
display  their  wealth,  especially  in  the  presence  of 
foreign  princes.  It  seems  as  if  they  wanted  to 
make  up  for  the  title  of  king  which  they  vainly 
coveted  by  an  ostentatious  luxury  which  no 
king  of  the  time  could  have  afforded.  When,  in 
1456,  the  Dauphin  Louis  visited  Bruges  with 
the  duke,  the  decoration  of  the  town  amazed  the 
French,  "  who  had  never  witnessed  such  riches  " 
(Chastellain),  and  when  Margaret  of  York  entered 
the  town,  on  the  occasion  of  her  marriage  with 
Charles  the  Bold,  in  1469,  the  streets  were  covered 
with  cloth  of  gold,  silks  and  tapestries,  and  the 
procession  had  to  stop  ten  times  before  reaching 
the  market-place  to  admire  tableaux  vivants 
illustrating  the  periods  of  sacred  and  profane 
history :  "  By  my  troth,"  wrote  John  Paston, 
one  of  the  English  gentlemen  who  attended 
Margaret's  wedding,  "  I  heard  never  of  so  great 
plenty  as  there  is,  and,  as  for  the  duke's  court, 


MANNERS   OF   THE    TIMES 

as  for  lords,  ladies  and  gentlewomen,  knights, 
squires  and  gentlemen,  I  heard  never  of  none 
like  to  it  save  King  Arthur's  court." 

This  astounding  economic  recovery  must  not, 
it  is  true,  be  attributed  only  to  the  beneficial 
action  of  the  dukes'  administration,  but  it  seems 
evident  that  a  long  period  of  peace,  guaranteeing 
order,  security  and  free  communication  with  other 
countries,  combined  with  wise  administrative  and 
financial  measures,  contributed  greatly  to  hasten 
it.  Measures  were  taken  to  lighten  the  restrictions 
and  monopolies  of  towns  and  corporations  and  to 
regulate  and  control  the  minting  of  money.  As 
early  as  1483,  Philip  the  Good  was  able  to  boast 
that  his  money  was  better  than  that  of  any  of 
his  neighbours.  The  right  of  coining  money  was 
no  longer  farmed  out,  but  entrusted  "  to  notables 
well  known  for  their  wealth,  who  could  provide 
the  country  with  gold  and  silver  money  and 
exchange  any  money  which  might  be  brought  to 
them  by  the  merchants."  In  1469  Edward  IV 
of  England  and  Charles  the  Bold  agreed  to  call 
a  conference  in  Bruges  to  determine  a  common 
currency  for  both  countries  and  to  suppress  the 
exchange. 

These  financial  regulations  are  intimately  con- 
nected with  the  transformation  which  trade  under- 
went at  the  time,  and  which  was  one  of  the  main 
causes  of  the  transfer  of  the  economic  centre  of 
the  country  from  Bruges  to  Antwerp.  The  reason 
generally  given  for  this  change  is  a  geographical 
one.  It  is  pointed  out  that  while,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  widening  of  the 
western  branch  of  the  Scheldt  through  inundations 
in  Zeeland  afforded  a  direct  road  from  Antwerp 


I2O  BELGIUM 

to  the  high-seas  (formerly  ships  had  to  go  round 
the  island  of  Walcheren),  all  the  efforts  made  to 
prevent  the  silting  up  of  the  Zwyn  from  1470  to 
1490  were  fruitless.  In  1506,  it  was  possible  for 
carts  to  drive  safely  at  low  tide  across  the  end 
of  the  harbour.  The  progress  of  navigation,  in- 
creasing the  tonnage  of  ships,  and  the  Spanish 
and  Portuguese  discoveries  acted  also  in  favour 
of  the  deeper  and  safer  harbour,  but  there  are  other 
reasons  which  might  have  ruined  Bruges  in  favour 
of  Antwerp,  even  if  the  geographical  advantages 
of  both  ports  had  remained  equal. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century 
the  conditions  of  trade  underwent  complete  trans- 
formation. Powerful  companies,  disposing  of  large 
capital  and  wide  credit,  took  the  place  of  the  old 
local  merchant  companies.  (Transactions  became 
so  considerable  and  involved  that  mediaeval  regu- 
lations, instead  of  controlling  commerce,  only 
hampered  it.  Any  protective  measure  detrimental 
to  foreigners  became  fatal  to  home  trade.  Ant- 
werp, which  then  appeared  as  a  new  metropolis, 
had  no  difficulty  in  adapting  itself  to  modern 
capitalist  conditions.  At  the  end  of  the  fourteenth 
century  the  town  had  already  lost  its  Brabancon 
character  and  had  become  almost^  cosmopolitan. 
It  had  adopted  economic  liberty.  1  Foreign  mer- 
chants meeting  at  its  fairs  were  protected  by  safe 
conducts.  The  positions  of  brokers  and  money- 
changers were  open  to  all,  and  citizenship  easily 
accessible.  Bruges,  on  the  other  hand,  hampered 
by  old  regulations  and  closely  attached  to  its 
privileges,  was  not  able  to  adapt  itself  to  the 
new  situation.  As  late  as  1477  measures  were 
taken  to  prevent  foreigners  from  introducing  on 


ANTWERP  AND  BRUGES  121 

the  market  wares  purchased  elsewhere,  and  their 
position  was  no  longer  in  accordance  with  the 
principle  of  free  trade.  It  thus  happened  that, 
while  the  population  of  Antwerp  increased  by 
leaps  and  bounds,  from  3,440  families  in  1435 
to  8,785  in  1526,  the  trade  of  Bruges  decreased 
steadily,  owing  to  the  emigration  of  foreign  mer- 
chants. Protective  measures  against  the  import 
of  English  cloth  estranged  the  Hanseatic  merchants, 
and,  in  1442,  the  "  Merchant  Adventurers  '*  es- 
tablished themselves  definitely  in  Antwerp,  where 
they  were  soon  followed  by  the  Italians,  Spanisl 
and  Portuguese.  It  is  true  that  Bruges  remained, 
for  a  time,  the  centre  of  banking  activity,  which 
accounts  for  the  fact  that  it  preserved  its  archi- 
tectural and  artistic  splendour  at  the  very  time 
when  its  trade  was  failing.  But  in  the  natural 
course  of  events  the  financiers  had  to  follow  the 
merchants,  and  at  the  end  of  the  century  the 
decadence  of  Bruges  as  a  great  seaport  was 
almost  as  complete  as  that  of  Ypres  as  an  indus- 
trial centre.  It  was  characteristic  of  the  new 
trade  conditions  that  no  "  halles  "  were  built  in 
Antwerp,  the  mediaeval  emporium  being  replaced 
by  a  modern  exchange. 

Antwerp,  however,  possessed  with  Bruges  one 
common  feature.  It  was,  like  its  predecessor,  the 
great  clearing-house  of  Western  Europe,  and 
derived  its  prosperity  not  from  the  goods  either 
consumed  or  manufactured  in  its  own  country, 
but  from  its  position  as  an  open  market  where 
all  merchants  could  conveniently  sell  their  own 
wares  and  buy  those  of  distant  lands. 

It  must  also  be  noticed  that,  while  Bruges 
resisted  as  far  as  lay  in  its  power  the  centralizing 


122  BELGIUM 

influence  of  the  dukes  and  of  the  princes  who 
succeeded  them,  Antwerp  remained  loyal  to  the 
new  political  regime  which  brought  it  so  many 
advantages.  The  troubles  which  arose  in  Bruges 
under  Maximilian  may  be  considered  as  the  death- 
blow to  the  prosperity  of  the  old  town. 

The  rule  of  the  dukes  was  equally  beneficial 
to  the  smaller  towns  and  villages  of  the  country- 
side. It  put  an  end  to  the  mediaeval  regime  and 
to  feudal  and  ecclesiastical  dues.  The  nobility 
had  no  longer  the  monopoly  of  landownership,  and 
many  bourgeois  enriched  by  trade  bought  large 
estates.  This  change  contributed,  to  a  certain 
extent,  to  decrease  the  number  of  small  landowners 
and  to  create  a  larger  class  of  farmers  and  agri- 
cultural labourers.  This  was,  however,  partially 
compensated  for  by  the  reclamation  of  land  from 
the  sea  (polders)  through  the  building  of  dykes 
and  by  the  impulse  given  to  cattle  breeding,  which 
rendered  more  intensive  cultivation  possible.  It 
was  at  that  time  that  the  old  system  of  leaving 
a  third  of  the  land  fallow  was  to  a  great  extent 
abolished  through  a  larger  use  of  manure.  With 
the  exception  of  the  famine  of  1348,  due  to  bad 
crops,  the  Burgundian  regime  was  free  from  the 
terrible  calamities  which  had  never  ceased  to  devas- 
tate the  country  during  the  previous  centuries. 

Through  the  census  made  for  Brabant  in  1435 
and  for  Flanders  in  1469,  it  is  possible  to  estimate 
the  total  population  of  the  Burgundian  States  in 
the  Netherlands  at  two  millions,  to  which  700,000 
ought  to  be  added  if  we  include  Lie"ge.  This, 
considering  the  size  of  these  States  and  the  economic 
conditions  of  the  period,  is  a  very  high  figure, 
and  implies  an  economic  activity  at  least  equal 


POPULATION  123 

to  that  of  modern  Belgium.  How  far  such  a 
rise  in  the  population  was  due  to  the  wise  adminis- 
tration of  Philip  the  Good  is  shown  by  a  closer 
inspection  of  the  facts.  The  years  from  1435  to 
1464  are  marked  by  a  steady  increase,  while  the 
period  from  1464  to  1472,  when  Charles  the  Bold 
imperilled  the  prosperity  of  the  country  by  his 
foreign  wars,  shows  a  slow  decrease,  which  becomes 
far  more  accentuated  after  the  death  of  the  duke 
and  during  the  troubled  period  which  succeeded 
the  Burgundian  rule* 


THE  hotels  de  ville  built  during  the  Burgundian 
period  afford  an  excellent  example  of  the  new 
economic  tendencies  prevailing  at  the  time,  but 
they  are  by  no  means  the  greatest  works  of  art 
illustrating  this  period  of  Belgian  efflorescence. 
Neither  in  the  Town  Hall  of  Bruges,  begun  in 
1376  by  Jean  de  Valenciennes,  nor  in  those  of 
Brussels  (1402  to  1444),  built  by  Jacques  van 
Thienen  and  Jean  de  Ruysbroeck,  or  of  Louvain, 
completed  in  1448  by  Matthieu  de  Layens,  still 
less  in  the  pretty  municipal  buildings  of  Oudenarde 
or  destroyed  Arras,  can  we  find  any  adequate 
representation  of  the  wonderful  intellectual  and 
artistic  movement  which  placed  the  Netherlands, 
during  the  fifteenth  century,  at  the  head  of 
Northern  European  civilization.  This  can  only 
be  realized  by  a  careful  study  of  the  pictures  of 
the  period,  generally  known  as  the  works  of  the 
Early  Flemish  School. 

Before  trying  to  determine  the  position  of  this 
school  in  the  history  of  Art,  it  may  be  well  to 
give  a  rapid  survey  of  the  intellectual  movement 
under  the  Burgundian  regime,  and  to  show  that 
in  every  department,  literature,  architecture  and 
music,  the  civilization  of  the  period  produced 
some  remarkable  works.  In  this  way,  the  Nether- 
lands of  the  fifteenth  century  are  comparable 
with  the  Italian  republics  and  principalities  which 


[THK  TOWN  HALL,  OUDKNARDK  (FIKTKKXTH  CKXTTKY). 


INTELLECTUAL   MOVEMENT  125 

flourished  at  the  same  time.  In  Belgium,  as  in 
Tuscany  and  Umbria,  all  arts  were  cultivated  at 
the  same  time  and  sometimes  by  the  same  man, 
and  people  and  princes  took  an  equal  interest  in 
all  the  manifestations  of  human  genius.  One 
would  have  to  go  back  as  far  as  ancient  Greece 
to  find  such  a  harmonious  development,  and  the 
world  has  never  produced  it  since. 

Literary  activity  was  perhaps  the  least  brilliant, 
owing  mostly  to  the  division  of  languages.  Though 
the  intercourse  between  the  Flemish  and  the 
Walloon  parts  of  the  country  was  intimate  and 
never  constituted  an  obstacle  in  the  work  of 
unification,  Belgium  can  scarcely  boast  of  one 
common  literature  at  the  time  when  its  nationality 
was  founded. 

As  far  as  political  and  administrative  activity 
was  concerned,  an  almost  exact  balance  was 
struck  between  the  languages  of  the  North  and 
the  South.  In  Flanders,  from  the  beginning  of 
the  fourteenth  century,  French  influence  had  con- 
siderably decreased,  owing  partly  to  the  loss  of 
Artois  and  Walloon  Flanders  and  to  the  blow 
inflicted  on  French  prestige  by  the  reverses  of 
the  Hundred  Years'  War.  The  use  of  French  was 
only  maintained  among  the  nobility  and  the  rich 
bourgeoisie,  and  in  all  intercourse  with  other 
countries ;  Flemish  made  considerable  progress 
and  took  the  place  of  Latin  in  all  acts  of  common 
administration.  Its  prestige  as  a  literary  language 
had  been  enhanced  by  the  reputation  of  van 
Maerlant,  and  it  served  also  in  all  relations  with 
Lower  Germany.  By  the  end  of  the  century, 
bilingualism  was  a  consecrated  institution  both 
in  Flanders  and  Brabant,  the  judges  rendering 


1 26  BELGIUM 

their  sentences  in  the  tongue  spoken  by  the  parties 
and  some  officials  using,  according  to  circum- 
stances, either  French,  Latin  or  Flemish.  Under 
John  the  Fearless  and  Philip  the  Good,  this 
situation,  which  favoured  the  centralizing  influence 
of  the  dukes,  remained  unchanged.  In  Holland 
and  Zeeland,  where  French  was  practically  un- 
known, State  officials  only  used  Flemish.  The 
dukes  themselves  knew  both  languages,  included 
Flemish  books  in  their  libraries,  and  encouraged 
Flemish  letters.  Owing  to  the  economic  attrac- 
tion of  Antwerp,  a  great  number  of  Walloon 
traders  used  both  languages,  and  the  number  of 
those  who  understood  Flemish  and  French  was 
considerable  enough  to  allow  the  production  of 
Flemish  plays  to  the  south  and  of  French  plays  to 
the  north  of  the  dividing  language  line.  It  is  true 
that  Charles  the  Bold  attempted  vainly  to  enforce 
French  for  administrative  purposes  in  Flemish 
districts,  but,  owing  to  subsidiary  evidence,  this 
must  be  considered  much  more  as  an  act  of 
political  absolutism  than  as  a  sign  of  hostility 
towards  Flemish.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  should 
seek  vainly  for  proof  of  any  attempt  to  frenchify 
the  country  at  the  time.  In  holding  their  courts 
in  the  Netherlands,  the  dukes  of  Burgundy  had 
renounced  their  French  origin. 

Bilingualism  must  thus  be  considered  as  a 
solution  of  the  language  question  in  Belgium  in 
the  fifteenth  century.  But  though  the  people 
remained  united,  the  literatures  of  the  two  parts 
of  the  country  followed  different  lines. 

On  the  Flemish  side,  poetry  had  never  ceased 
to  decline  since  the  death  of  van  Maerlant,  in 
spite  of  the  numerous  works  produced  by  the 


JAN  RUYSBROECK  12"J 

disciples  of  this  master,  especially  in  Brabant. 
Jean  Boendaele  (1280-1365)  described  in  his 
remarkable  Brabantsche  Yeesten  the  struggle  of 
the  duke  against  his  enemies.  His  attitude  of 
mind  is  thoroughly  typical  of  the  time.  Boendaele 
is  a  bourgeois  poet,  and  distrusts  equally  the 
democracy  of  the  towns  and  the  nobility.  He 
places  his  faith  in  the  prince,  the  merchants  and 
the  peasants. 

The  mystic  treatises  of  Jan  Ruysbroeck  (1292- 
1381),  who  may  be  considered  as  the  founder  of 
Flemish  prose,  just  as  van  Maerlant  is  the  founder 
of  Flemish  poetry,  are  far  more  important  than 
the  rhymed  chronicles  of  Boendaele.  Not  only 
do  they  rank  among  the  most  inspired  religious 
writings  of  the  Middle  Ages,  but  they  are  the 
expression  of  a  deep-rooted  religious  movement 
which  animated  the  Flemish  bourgeoisie  at  the 
time,  and  which  had  its  origin  in  the  foundation 
of  the  institution  of  the  Beguines  and  the  Beggards, 
so  active  and  so  influential  during  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury. This  movement  aimed  at  bringing  religion 
closer  to  the  common  people  through  the  work 
of  laymen  who,  though  deeply  attached  to  the 
Church,  were  conscious  of  its  limitations  and  of 
the  barrier  which  aristocracy  and  privilege  had 
built  around  it.  One  of  Ruysbroeck's  disciples, 
Gerard  de  Groote  (1340-84),  founded  the  Order 
of  the  "  Freres  de  la  Vie  Commune "  (Brothers 
of  the  Common  Life),  and  the  "  Sustershuysen," 
which  contributed  so  much  to  the  revival  of 
religious  studies  and  general  education  in  the 
early  days  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Like  the 
Beggards,  the  Brothers  did  not  strictly  constitute 
a  religious  order,  they  did  not  pronounce  any 


1 28  BELGIUM 

binding  vow  and  retained  their  lay  character. 
Refusing  any  gift  or  endowment  from  outside, 
they  had  to  provide  for  their  own  needs,  but, 
while  the  Beggards  devoted  most  of  their  time 
to  the  weaving  industry,  the  Brothers  gave  them- 
selves up  to  copying  manuscripts,  learning  and 
teaching.  Under  Florent  Radewyn,  one  of  de 
Groote's  early  disciples,  they  acquired  a  very 
complete  organization  and  founded  numerous 
schools,  specially  in  Brussels  (1422)  and  in  Ghent 
(1432),  their  influence  spreading  as  far  as  Germany. 
Thierry  Maertens,  the  first  well-known  Belgian 
printer,  was  one  of  their  pupils.  This  educational 
and  religious  revival  is  closely  connected  with 
the  foundation  of  the  University  of  Louvain  in 
1426.  De  Groote  and  his  disciples  were  frequently 
attacked,  chiefly  by  the  monks,  who  became 
jealous  of  their  success,  but  their  strict  orthodoxy 
and  the  unimpeachable  character  of  their  life 
made  their  position  unassailable.  De  Groote  was 
equally  well  known  for  his  criticism  of  the  abuses 
among  the  clergy,  his  denunciation  of  the  luxury 
displayed  by  the  rich  and  the  mystic  character 
of  his  preaching.  He  was  equally  severe  against 
heretics,  and  was  called  by  his  contemporaries 
"  malleus  hereticorum."  Another  of  his  followers 
founded  the  celebrated  monastery  of  Windesheim, 
where,  half  a  century  later,  the  Imitation  oj  Christ 
was  written. 

While  the  Flemish  writers  of  the  fourteenth 
and  fifteenth  centuries  wrote  mostly  for  the 
bourgeoisie  and  the  people  and  kept  in  close 
contact  with  the  religious  aspirations  of  the  time, 
the  authors  belonging  to  the  Walloon  part  of  the 
country  were  nearly  all  attached  to  some  court 


JEAN  FRO  I SS  ART  I2Q 

and  confined  themselves  to  the  production  of 
chronicles  and  memoires  destined  for  the  aris- 
tocracy. Though  extremely  limited,  this  genre 
was  cultivated  with  great  success  by  the  Walloon 
writers  and  is  typical  of  the  Belgian  branch  of 
the  French  letters  of  the  period.  As  early  as 
the  fourteenth  century,  Jean  Le  Bel  of  Liege  had 
related  with  extraordinary  vividness  his  adventures 
at  the  court  of  Hainault  and  the  part  played  by 
his  master,  Jean  de  Beaumont,  in  the  expedition 
led  by  Edward  III  against  the  Scots.  Le  Bel 
writes  in  French,  but  as  far  as  his  political  views 
are  concerned  remains  impervious  to  French 
influence  and  chooses  an  English  King,  "  le  noble 
roi  Edowart,"  for  his  hero,  while  he  has  nothing 
but  harsh  words  for  Philip  de  Valois. 

Jean  Froissart,  of  Valenciennes,  who  continued 
the  work  of  Le  Bel  and  served  as  a  link  between 
him  and  the  Burgundian  school  of  chroniclers, 
had  a  much  wider  field  of  vision.  Attached 
successively  to  Albert  of  Bavaria,  Queen  Philippa 
of  England  and  Wenceslas  of  Luxemburg,  he 
had  many  opportunities  to  study  European  affairs, 
and,  as  a  Belgian,  was  able  to  consider  them  from 
an  independent  and  even  a  sceptical  point  of 
view.  Though  generally  considered  as  a  French 
writer,  he  remains  independent  of  French  influence. 
With  Monstrelet,  Chastellain,  Jean  Molinet  and 
Jean  Lemaire  de  Beiges,  who  wrote  for  the  dukes 
of  Burgundy,  this  independent  attitude  is  still 
further  strengthened.  All  these  writers  extolled 
the  Burgundian  regime  and  supported  the  duke's 
policy,  whether  friendly  or  antagonistic  to  France. 
From  a  literary  point  of  view,  they  are  greatly 
inferior  to  their  predecessors  and  often  lapse  into 

9 


I  3O  BELGIUM 

rhetorical  eloquence.  Their  style,  which  appears 
to  be  overloaded  with  flowery  images,  excited 
great  admiration  at  the  time,  especially  in  the 
case  of  Chastellain,  who  was  hailed  by  his  con- 
temporaries as  a  "  supreme  rhetorician." 


Music  was  not  hampered,  like  literature,  by  the 
division  of  languages,  and  might,  under  different 
circumstances,  have  given  a  more  accurate  expres- 
sion to  the  Belgian  national  spirit.  Its  style  was, 
unhappily,  still  so  formal  that  national  character- 
istics cannot  immediately  be  recognized  in  the 
works  of  Guillaume  Dufay,  of  Chimay  (1350-1432) 
and  Giles  de  Binche,  Chapelmasters  to  Philip  the 
Good,  and  those  of  the  Fleming  Jean  Ockeghem 
(dec.  1494-6)  and  of  Josquin  des  Pres,  of  Hainault 
(c.  1450-1521).  These  musicians,  who  enjoyed 
European  celebrity  and  exerted  a  widespread 
influence  on  the  musical  movement  in  France  and 
Italy,  are  well  known  to  musical  historians  as 
having  largely  contributed  to  the  development  of 
polyphonic  music  as  opposed  to  the  monody  of 
the  Gregorian  chant.  They  were  thus  pioneers 
in  the  art  of  musical  ornamentation,  and  their 
method  may  be  associated  with  the  flowery  images 
of  Chastellain's  style,  the  architectural  luxury  of 
Burgundian  Gothic  and  the  display  of  colouring 
of  the  early  Flemish  painters.  In  all  branches  of 
intellectual  activity,  Belgium  enters  decidedly,  from 
the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century,  into  the 
Renaissance  period.  But,  unlike  the  Italian,  the 
Belgian  Renaissance  was  at  first  only  very  slightly 
affected  by  the  study  of  the  classics.  It  was  more 


SOCIAL   LIFE  131 

realistic  in  its  aims  than  the  mediaeval  period. 
It  revelled  in  the  display  of  harmony,  whether  in 
sound,  colour  or  form,  and  abundance  of  tracery, 
but  as  far  as  the  subject  was  concerned  it  remained 
essentially  and  profoundly  Christian. 

Though  the  works  of  Belgian  writers  and  artists 
of  the  period  are  very  remarkable,  they  are  some- 
what misleading  if  we  want  to  form  an  accurate 
idea  of  social  life  in  the  fifteenth  century.  Neither 
the  Libri  Teutonici,  published  by  Ruysbroeck's 
followers,  nor  the  great  paintings  of  the  brothers 
Van  Eyck,  Van  der  Weyden  and  Memling,  suggest 
for  one  moment  the  laxity  of  morals  prevalent  at 
the  time  and  revealed  by  the  writers  of  the 
Chronicles.  The  number  of  illegitimate  births  was 
extraordinarily  high,  the  example  being  set  by 
the  dukes  themselves,  Philip  the  Good  alone  being 
responsible  for  eighteen  bastards  and  Jean  de 
Heinsberg,  Bishop  of  Liege,  for  nearly  as  many. 
It  must  be  pointed  out,  however,  that  the  ille- 
gitimate character  of  their  birth  did  not  stand 
in  the  way  of  many  prominent  men  of  the  time, 
such  as  the  Chancellor  Rolin,  the  Dean  of  St. 
Donatian  of  Bruges,  the  great  financier  Pierre 
Bladelin,  the  Bishop  of  Tournai  and  many  high 
officials.  All  these  had,  of  course,  received  their 
letters  of  legitimation.  Numerous  edicts  made  by 
the  dukes  were  unable  to  check  gambling,  prosti- 
tution and  prodigality.  The  scant  effect  of  the 
regulations  relating  to  the  latter  may  be  easily 
understood  when  we  read  that,  on  the  occasion 
of  the  marriage  of  Margaret  of  York  to  Charles 
the  Bold,  Belgian  artists  and  artisans  were  ordered 
to  prepare  and  to  decorate  a  large  wooden  house 
which  was  subsequently  transported  by  water 


132  BELGIUM 

from  Brussels  to  Bruges.  In  a  tower  41  feet  high 
attached  to  this  house,  the  noble  company  invited 
to  the  ceremony  witnessed  the  movements  and 
heard  the  cries  of  a  number  of  mechanical  animals, 
monkeys,  wolves  and  boars,  while  a  whale  60  feet 
long  moved  around  the  hall  together  with  elephants, 
amid  thirty  large  trees,  a  fountain  of  crystal  and 
a  pelican  "  spouting  hippocras  from  his  beak." 
The  fact  is  that  the  situation  in  the  Netherlands, 
in  the  second  half  of  the  fifteenth  century,  was 
very  much  the  same  as  that  in  Florence  at  the 
same  time,  the  people  being  swayed  between  an 
exuberant  enjoyment  of  life  and  a  severe  asceti- 
cism. There  are  many  points  of  contact  between 
Charles  the  Bold  and  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent,  and 
no  figure  comes  closer  to  Savonarola  than  that 
of  the  Carthusian,  Thomas  Conecte,  who  stirred 
public  feeling  to  such  a  pitch  that  the  people 
crowding  to  listen  to  his  fiery  speeches,  in  market- 
places, threw  into  the  braziers  burning  before  his 
platform  all  the  instruments  of  their  worldly  life 
— chessboards,  cards,  dice,  skittles,  silks  and  jewels. 
Strangely  enough,  no  religious  order  benefited 
more  from  the  sympathy  and  generosity  of  the 
people  than  the  ascetic  Carthusians.  Philip  the 
Bold  erected  in  Dijon  the  famous  Chartreuse  of 
Champmol ;  Philip  the  Good  and  Margaret  of 
York  corresponded  with  the  celebrated  Carthusian 
Denys  de  Ryckel,  the  "  doctor  extaticus,"  and  the 
Chartreuse  of  Louvain  was  endowed  by  rich 
bourgeois  of  the  duke's  entourage.  Unless  this 
apparent  contradiction  is  fully  realized,  it  is  im- 
possible to  understand  the  spirit  of  an  epoch 
which,  though  deeply  absorbed  by  its  worldly  life, 
produced  works  almost  entirely  devoted  to  Faith, 


Hubert  and  Jan  Van  Eyck. 

THE  ADORATION   OF  THE   LAMB   (SAINT   BAVON,   GHENT). 
The  Annunciation  (exterior  of  the  shutters). 


THE  BROTHERS    VAN  EYCK  133 

and  in  which  luxurious  garments  and  colours  are 
only  employed  to  enhance  the  glory  of  God. 


Painting  stands  foremost  among  the  achieve- 
ments of  the  Burgundian  period.  Here  again  the 
difference  of  language  does  not  hamper  the 
genius  of  the  nation.  While  in  music  the  Walloon 
element  dominates,  the  Flemish  dominates  in  Art ; 
but  it  must  be  clearly  stated  that,  in  this  branch, 
as  in  all  other  branches  of  Burgundian  civiliza- 
tion, the  two  parts  of  the  country  are  strongly 
represented,  and  that  the  title  of  "  Flemish  School 
of  Painting  "  is  therefore  misleading  when  referring 
to  Belgian  painting  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

The  greatest  name  associated  with  the  period  is 
that  of  the  brothers  Jan  and  Hubert  Van  Eyck, 
and  the  work  which  naturally  comes  to  the  mind, 
when  thinking  of  them,  is  the  monumental  altar- 
piece  which  they  painted  for  Jos.  Vyt,  lord  of 
Pamele,  to  be  placed  in  his  chapel  in  the  Cathedral 
of  St.  John  in  Ghent.  This  work,  generally  known 
as  the  "  Mystic  Lamb,"  is  composed  of  ten  smaller 
pictures,  but  the  partitions  separating  the  various 
divisions  of  the  wings  and  the  wings  from  the 
central  piece  scarcely  detract  from  the  majesty 
of  the  ensemble.  The  composition  is  well  known 
Above,  God  the  Father,  as  Christ,  enthroned,  His 
hand  raised  in  benediction,  between  St.  John 
Baptist  and  the  Virgin,  with  angels  on  both  sides 
singing  and  playing  on  various  instruments.  On 
the  extreme  right  and  left  of  the  upper  panels, 
excluded,  so  to  speak,  from  the  company  of 
heaven,  stand  Adam  and  Eve,  in  all  the  realistic 


1 34  BELGIUM 

weakness  of  their  nakedness.  Below,  in  the  midst 
of  a  flowery  meadow,  behind  the  fountain  of  life, 
surrounded  by  groups  of  holy  virgins,  martyrs 
and  saints,  in  the  New  Paradise,  under  the  walls 
of  the  New  Jerusalem,  stands  the  Lamb,  directly 
under  the  figure  of  Christ  and  the  symbol  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  the  centre  towards  which  every  line, 
every  attitude  in  the  picture  converges.  Towards 
the  holy  spot  walk,  on  the  right,  the  pilgrims  and 
the  hermits,  on  the  left,  the  good  judges  and  the 
soldiers  of  Christ.  The  symbolism  of  the  picture 
which  enfolds  the  majestic  plan  of  the  redemption 
of  man  through  Christ's  sacrifice,  of  the  second 
creation  through  the  Spirit,  as  contrasted  with 
the  first  creation  through  the  flesh,  is  directly 
inspired  by  the  mystic  writings  of  the  time,  while 
the  harmony  and  depth  of  colours,  the  gorgeous 
robes  and  jewels  adorning  the  figures  of  God,  the 
Virgin  and  the  angels,  the  pompous  cavalcade  of 
knights  and  judges  and  the  systematic  grouping 
of  the  central  scene,  are  an  adequate  expression 
of  the  love  of  ceremony  and  solemn  luxury  which 
characterized  the  Burgundian  age.  The  whole 
picture  appears  as  a  sacred  pageant  in  which  the 
saints,  the  angels  and  the  blessed  take  the  place 
of  nobles,  ladies  and  clerics,  as  they  were  seen 
during  the  festivities  and  processions  arranged  at 
the  ducal  court. 

Considered  as  a  purely  religious  picture,  this 
work,  like  almost  all  the  works  of  the  school, 
stands  in  striking  contrast  to  Italian  fourteenth- 
century  painting,  especially  as  illustrated  by  the 
frescoes  of  Giotto.  The  latter  are  characterized 
by  an  extreme  simplicity  of  outline  and  by  vivid 
narrative  power.  In  Padua,  for  instance,  Giotto 


THE   ADORATION   OF  THE   LAMB   (SAINT   BAVON,   GHENT). 
Angels  singing  and  playing. 


THE   MYSTIC  LAMB  1 35 

tells  us  the  story  of  Christ  as  he  saw  it  in  his 
mystical  vision,  without  any  concern  for  accessories 
or  detail.  He  clings  to  essentials,  to  the  figures 
of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  while  scorning  any 
subordinate  object,  such  as  trees,  architecture, 
costumes,  etc.,  which  are  only  represented  in  a 
rude  fashion  when  necessary  to  the  story.  It  is 
characteristic  of  Hubert  Van  Eyck's  work  (since, 
according  to  all  evidence,  Hubert  must  be  con- 
sidered as  the  author  of  the  general  outlines  of 
the  picture,  which  was  finished  by  his  brother  Jan 
after  his  death)  that  perhaps  the  least  satisfactory 
figure  of  the  Adoration  of  the  Lamb  is  the  Deity, 
while  our  attention  is  immediately  captured  by 
the  group  of  angels  surrounding  Him,  and  still 
more  by  the  procession  of  worshippers  at  the 
bottom  of  the  picture.  To  put  it  briefly,  whereas 
Giotto's  art  is  at  its  best  when  dealing  with  the 
divine  side  of  the  Christian  drama,  Van  Eyck's 
genius  stands  foremost  in  the  human  interpretation 
of  the  subject.  His  greatest  creations  are  not  the 
figures  of  the  worshipped  but  of  the  worshippers, 
and  we  must  seek  for  religious  inspiration  not  so 
much  in  the  direct  vision  of  the  Divinity  as  in 
the  expression  of  devotion  reflected  on  the  faces 
of  the  adoring  crowds. 

It  is  true  that  we  may  find  the  same  insistence 
on  landscape,  costume  and  the  portraits  of  donors 
in  the  works  of  the  Italian  artists  of  the  Early 
Renaissance,  who  painted  at  the  same  time  as 
Van  Eyck,  and  that  the  spirit  of  the  period  may, 
to  a  certain  extent,  account  for  it.  But  it  would 
be  difficult  to  discover  in  the  pictures  of  Masaccio, 
Fra  Filippo  Lippi,  Ghirlandajo,  Botticelli  and  the 
other  masters  of  the  Italian  fifteenth  century, 


136  BELGIUM 

with  the  sole  exception  of  Fra  Angelico,  the  same 
depth  of  religious  inspiration  which  pervades  the 
works  of  the  Van  Eycks  and  of  their  disciples. 
If  the  Gospel  story  still  provides  most  of  the 
subjects  of  the  Italian  school,  it  is  treated  in  a 
lighter  vein,  and  pagan  inspiration,  prompted  by 
the  study  of  classics,  is  more  and  more  conspicuous. 
Earthly  loveliness  is  of  greater  importance  than 
Christian  teaching. 

The  virgins  of  Van  Eyck,  the  Pieta  of  Van  der 
Weyden  and  the  saints  of  Memling  occupy  the 
intermediate  position  between  the  purely  mediaeval 
attitude  of  Giotto  and  of  the  sculptors  of  the 
French  cathedrals  and  the  worldly  atmosphere  of 
the  Early  Italian  Renaissance.  They  preserve,  to 
a  great  extent,  the  religious  atmosphere  of  the 
former,  and  devote  the  same  attention  to  technical 
skill  and  realistic  representation  as  the  second. 
The  combination  of  these  two  elements  is  the 
chief  source  of  originality  of  the  Burgundian  school 
of  painters,  and  it  is  truly  characteristic  of  the 
period,  which,  though  strongly  attached  to  the 
world  and  its  pleasures,  founded  its  greatest 
productions  on  the  stern  lessons  of  deep  devotion 
and  of  a  society  in  which  the  Beggards  and  the 
Brothers  of  the  Common  Life  strove  incessantly 
to  bring  religion  closer  to  the  heart  of  the  people. 

The  Adoration  of  the  Lamb  is  not  only  the 
most  complete  expression  of  the  spirit  of  Belgium 
in  the  fifteenth  century,  it  is  also  the  first  great 
work  produced  by  Belgian  painters.  Art  critics 
have  been  at  great  pains  to  explain  the  sudden 
appearance  in  history  of  such  a  highly  skilled 
and  complete  production.  But  a  closer  study  of 
Belgian  civilization  in  the  fourteenth  century 


"  PLOURANT." 

Detail  of  the  tomb  of  John  the  Fearless  (Dijon  Museum). 
Netherlandish  School  of  the  fifteenth  century. 


SCULPTURE  137 

would  show  that  it  is  merely  the  outcome  of 
previous  efforts  and  the  blossoming  of  a  great 
individual  genius  in  an  Art  which  had  already 
found,  in  other  departments,  very  remarkable 
means  of  expression. 

From  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century,  Belgian 
Art,  as  shown  by  the  works  of  the  goldsmiths, 
decorators,  sculptors  and  miniaturists,  had  become 
independent  of  German  and  French  influence.  A 
highly  trained  class  of  artisans  was  formed,  and, 
in  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  was 
organized  into  regular  corporations.  Goldsmiths 
and  decorators  devoted  their  talent  to  the  em- 
bellishment of  churches  and  ecclesiastical  treasures, 
as  well  as  to  decoration  of  secular  buildings  such 
as  Cloth  Halls  or  Town  Halls  and  to  the  designing 
of  banners  for  the  guilds.  We  still  possess  a 
great  number  of  engraved  tombstones  which 
reveal  an  extraordinary  development  of  technique. 
Soon  the  figure  of  the  deceased  was  raised  in 
high  relief,  and  even,  as  in  the  tomb  of  the  Count 
of  Artois  in  the  cathedral  of  St.  Denys,  the  work 
of  Pepin  of  Huy,  raised  on  the  shoulders  of  standing 
figures.  From  the  second  half  of  the  fourteenth 
century  the  most  prominent  sculptors  ceased  to 
be  considered  as  mere  artisans.  Hennequin  of 
Lie"ge  was  attached  to  the  court  of  the  French 
king  Charles  V,  while  Andrd  Beauneveu  (1364-90) 
remained  in  Flanders  as  the  sculptor  of  Louis  de 
Male.  The  striking  sculptures  of  the  pit  of  Moses, 
at  Dijon,  were  executed  by  Claus  Sluter  of  Zeeland. 
These  statues,  which  bear  comparison  with  those 
of  Ghiberti  and  Donatello,  Sluter's  contemporaries, 
suffice  to  explain  the  sense  of  form  and  of  line 
in  the  draperies  revealed  by  the  early  Flemish 


138  BELGIUM 

masters.  In  the  North,  as  in  the  South,  sculpture 
developed  earlier  than  painting,  and,  just  as 
Pisano  precedes  Giotto,  Sluter  precedes,  and  to  a 
certain  extent  explains,  the  brothers  Van  Eyck. 
The  influence  of  sculpture  on  painting  is  made 
evident  from  the  fact  that  many  statues  of  the 
time  were  gilded  and  coloured,  painters  being 
frequently  called  in  to  perform  this  part  of  the 
work.  Besides,  many  sculptors  such  as  Beauneveu 
and  Hennequin  were  equally  skilled  in  the  art  of 
painting.  The  result  of  these  influences  is  shown 
in  the  Book  of  Hours  of  the  Duke  of  Berry,  the 
work  of  Pol  de  Limburg,  and  in  the  pictures 
painted  in  Dijon  for  Philip  the  Bold  by  Melchior 
Broederlam.  The  latter's  Annunciation,  Presenta- 
tion in  the  Temple  and  Flight  into  Egypt  prepare 
the  way  for  the  Adoration  of  the  Lamb,  though 
far  from  being  equal  to  it.  These  pictures  serve 
as  a  link  between  the  Belgian  Art  of  the  fifteenth 
and  the  fourteenth  centuries.  The  difference  to 
be  accounted  for  is  certainly  not  larger  than 
that  separating,  a  century  before,  the  frescoes  of 
Giotto  from  the  works  of  Cimabue  and  his  school. 
It  would  be  impossible  here  to  characterize  the 
works  of  the  various  masters  who  followed  in  the 
wake  of  the  brothers  Van  Eyck.  Of  the  two 
brothers,  hailing  from  Maeseyck,  we  know  that 
Hubert  settled  in  Ghent  (c.  1410)  and  Jan  in 
Bruges  in  1425.  Roger  de  la  Pasture,  usually  known 
as  Van  der  Weyden,  the  foremost  representative 
of  the  Walloon  branch  of  the  school,  came  from 
Tournai  to  Brussels  in  1435.  There  were  other 
Walloons,  such  as  Robert  Campin  and  Jacques 
Daret  of  Tournai,  but  the  Flemish  element,  re- 
presented beside  the  brothers  Van  Eyck  by  the 


FLEMISH  SCHOOL  139 

Brabanc.on  Pieter  Christus,  Justus  van  Ghent, 
Hughes  Van  der  Goes  (of  Ghent)  and  Thierry 
Bouts  of  Harlem,  not  to  mention  Memling  (of 
Mayence),  was  manifestly  prevalent.  The  renown 
enjoyed  by  these  artists  extended  far  beyond  the 
limits  of  Belgium  and  France,  and  the  influence 
exerted  by  their  works  in  Italy  can  easily  be  traced. 
Strangely  enough,  while  during  the  next  century 
the  Belgian  painters  were  subjected  so  strongly 
to  Italian  influence,  they  were  hailed,  at  this 
period,  as  pioneers  by  the  Italians  themselves. 
At  home,  the  consideration  which  the  great 
painters  enjoyed  is  shown  by  the  interest  displayed 
in  their  work  not  only  by  the  prince  but  also  by 
his  courtiers,  among  them  Chancellor  Rolin,  and 
by  rich  foreigners,  such  as  the  Portinari  and  the 
Arnolfini  established  in  Flanders.  Philip  the  Good 
visited  Jan  Van  Eyck  frequently,  was  godfather 
to  his  daughter,  and  employed  him  on  several 
occasions  for  secret  missions.  His  position  at  the 
court  of  Burgundy  was  equal  to  that  occupied 
later  by  Rubens  at  the  court  of  Albert  and  Isabella. 


THE  disaster  of  Nancy  naturally  provoked  a 
strong  reaction  in  the  Belgian  provinces.  We 
have  seen  that  the  large  towns  bore  only  with 
great  reluctance  the  centralized  rule  of  Philip  the 
Good,  in  spite  of  the  moderation  and  the  diplomatic 
talents  of  this  prince.  In  the  latter  part  of  his 
reign,  Charles  the  Bold  had  completely  disregarded 
local  privileges  and  relentlessly  crushed  every 
attempt  at  rebellion.  He  raised  taxes  for  his 
foreign  expeditions  which  weighed  heavily  on  the 
people.  More  and  more  absorbed  by  his  struggle 
against  Louis  XI,  he  neglected  internal  affairs, 
and  the  Belgians  were  loath  to  support  an  expen- 
sive policy  of  foreign  adventures  which  could  only 
be  detrimental  to  their  own  interests.  Mary  of 
Burgundy  was  thus  left  alone,  in  1477,  to  confront, 
on  one  side  the  exigencies  of  the  towns  and  States, 
and  on  the  other  the  intrigues  of  Louis  XI.  The 
latter  had  not  only  confiscated  the  duke's  French 
dominions,  as  soon  as  the  news  of  his  death  reached 
him,  but  he  proposed,  with  the  support  of  the 
disaffected  towns,  to  appropriate  as  well  his 
Northern  provinces.  Fearing  English  interference, 
he  thought  of  striking  a  bargain  with  the  King 
of  England  and  offered  to  conquer  Brabant  for 
him.  Very  wisely,  Edward  IV  retorted  that  the 
province  would  be  too  difficult  to  hold  and  that 
"  a  war  with  the  Netherlands  would  not  be  popular 

140 


MAKY  OF   BURGUNDY. 
From  the  mausoleum  in  the  Church  of  Notre  Dame,  Bruges. 


THE  "GREAT  PRIVILEGE  141 

in  England  owing  to  the  active  trade  between 
the  two  countries."  Left  to  his  own  devices, 
Louis  succeeded  in  persuading  the  Flemings  that 
a  marriage  between  Mary  and  the  dauphin  would 
be  the  most  profitable  solution  of  the  crisis.  On 
the  refusal  of  the  princess,  who  was  already 
affianced  to  the  Archduke  Maximilian  of  Austria, 
the  French  king  dropped  the  mask  of  friendship 
and  invaded  Hainault  and  Artois. 

By  that  time,  Mary  had  given  full  satisfaction 
to  the  particularist  demands  by  granting  the 
"  Great  Privilege,"  which  practically  restored  all 
provincial  and  urban  liberties  and  brought  to 
nought  the  patient  work  of  centralization  accom- 
plished by  the  dukes.  Under  the  threat  of  foreign 
invasion,  the  people  rallied  around  her  to  the  cry 
of  "  Vive  Bourgogne  !  "  and  identified  the  cause 
of  their  national  dynasty  with  that  of  their  own 
independence.  Arras  was  obliged  to  open  its  gates 
to  the  French  armies,  but  Valenciennes  and  St. 
Omer  made  a  desperate  resistance.  It  was,  how- 
ever, evident  that,  under  the  circumstances,  the 
Low  Countries  could  not  oppose  the  French 
advance  without  foreign  help.  The  States  there- 
fore agreed  to  the  marriage  of  Mary  with  Maxi- 
milian of  Austria,  who  entered  the  country  at  the 
head  of  a  small  army. 

This  marriage  proved  fatal  to  the  independence 
of  the  Low  Countries,  by  bringing  them  more  and 
more  under  the  sway  of  the  Hapsburg  dynasty. 
In  spite  of  their  French  possessions,  the  Burgun- 
dian  princes  had  maintained  a  national  policy,  or, 
to  speak  more  accurately,  had,  with  the  exception 
of  Charles's  last  adventures,  furthered  their  own 
interests  to  the  greater  benefit  of  the  Belgian 


142  BELGIUM 

provinces.  As  far  as  foreign  politics  were  con- 
cerned, they  succeeded  in  remaining  neutral  be- 
tween the  three  Powers  surrounding  them  and  in 
interfering  in  European  affairs  only  when  their 
possessions  were  directly  threatened.  There  was 
no  conflict  between  the  economic  and  political 
interests  of  Belgium  and  those  of  the  Burgundian 
dynasty.  The  dukes  remained  in  the  country 
and  the  welfare  of  the  country  -was  the  essential 
condition  of  their  own  prosperity.  Owing  to  the 
union  of  Maximilian  with  Mary  of  Burgundy, 
this  situation  was  entirely  altered.  From  the 
end  of  the  fifteenth  century  to  the  time  of  the 
French  Revolution,  the  Netherlands  were  more 
and  more  sacrificed  to  the  interests  of  their  masters, 
whether  belonging  to  the  Austrian  or  the  Spanish 
branch  of  the  Hapsburgs.  They  lost  the  benefit 
of  the  presence  of  their  national  and  "  natural " 
princes,  who  were  absorbed  in  far  more  important 
affairs  and  spent  most  of  their  life  out  of  the 
country.  They  were  administered  by  regents  or 
governors,  who  generally  did  not  enjoy  sufficient 
independence  and  authority  to  pursue  a  Nether- 
landish policy.  They  constituted  a  sort  of  outpost 
of  the  Power  to  which  they  were  attached,  and 
were,  in  consequence,  first  exposed  to  the  attacks 
of  the  enemies  of  this  Power.  This  is  one  of  the 
main  causes  of  the  sixteenth-century  revolution 
and  the  subsequent  partition  of  the  country,  and 
of  the  decadence  of  the  Southern  provinces  which 
became  so  evident  during  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries. 

For  some  time,  however,  the  Hapsburg  policy 
did  not  prevail,  and  it  even  appeared,  at  certain 
moments,  as  if  a  national  dynasty  might  be  re- 


MAXIMILIAN    I. 

From  a  portrait  by  Ambrozio  de  Prcdis  (Imperial  Museum.  Vienna). 


DEATH  OF  MARY  143 

stored.  The  Belgian  States,  and  more  especially 
the  Belgian  aristocracy,  succeeded  in  influencing 
the  princes  and  their  governors,  who,  from  time 
to  time,  reverted  to  a  national  policy.  The  story 
of  the  fifteenth  and  the  sixteenth  centuries  in 
Belgium  is  composed  of  the  struggle  of  the  two 
opposing  principles :  the  national  Burgundian 
policy,  based  on  peace  and  neutrality  in  European 
conflicts,  and  the  Hapsburg  policy,  drawing  the 
provinces  in  the  wake  of  Hapsburg  ambitions  and 
rivalries. 

If  Maximilian,  after  his  victory  at  Guinegate, 
had  limited  his  aims  to  the  defence  of  the  country 
and  managed  to  conclude  an  early  peace  with 
Louis,  the  attitude  of  the  people  would  no  doubt 
have  remained  friendly.  But,  before  being  Mary's 
husband  and  the  successor  of  the  Burgundian 
dukes,  he  was  an  Austrian  archduke,  bound  to 
pursue  the  policy  of  his  House  against  France, 
whether  it  was  to  the  interest  of  the  Netherlands 
or  not,  and  to  oppose  any  local  liberties  which 
hampered  his  action.  It  is  in  this  light  that  the 
intricate  conflicts  which  arose  between  the  arch- 
duke and  the  towns,  more  especially  Ghent,  must 
be  viewed.  The  latter  town  rose  against  him,  and 
even  went  as  far  as  to  re-enter  into  negotiations 
with  France,  far  more  to  guard  municipal  liberties 
than  from  any  friendly  feeling  towards  that 
country.  Mary  died  in  1482,  leaving  two  children, 
Philip  and  Margaret,  who  had  been  entrusted  to 
the  care  of  Ghent.  On  the  archduke's  refusal  to 
conclude  peace,  the  Ghent  deputies,  reverting  to  the 
project  of  the  French  marriage,  negotiated  at 
Arras  a  treaty  with  Louis  XI,  according  to  which 
the  young  Princess  Margaret  was  to  marry  the 


1 44  BELGIUM 

dauphin.  Maximilian  succeeded  in  defeating  the 
Ghent  militias,  and  transferred  Philip  from  Ghent 
to  Malines.  But  the  Communes  were  not  yet 
daunted.  A  rising  occurred  in  Bruges  and  the 
citizens  took  Maximilian  prisoner,  obliging  him, 
before  restoring  him  to  liberty,  to  abolish  all  the 
monarchical  reforms  which  he  had  introduced 
since  the  granting  of  the  Great  Privilege.  Bruges, 
however,  was  finally  defeated,  in  1490,  and  Ghent, 
which  had  allied  itself  with  Charles  VIII  of  France, 
in  1492.  The  next  year  peace  was  concluded  at 
Senlis  between  Maximilian  and  Charles,  who  was 
compelled  to  restore  Artois  and  Franche  Comte". 
This  date  marks,  for  the  time,  the  end  of  the 
stubborn  fight  waged  by  the  towns  against  the 
central  authority  of  the  monarch  and  the  triumph 
of  the  modern  principle  of  the  State  against  the 
mediaeval  principle  of  local  privilege. 

With  the  accession  of  Maximilian  to  the  Empire 
(1493)  and  of  his  son  Philip  the  Handsome,  then 
sixteen  years  old,  to  the  governance  of  Belgium, 
we  witness  a  return  to  the  traditional  Burgundian 
policy  on  strictly  national  lines.  The  enthusiasm 
provoked  by  the  change  and  the  professions  of 
loyalty  made  to  Belgium's  "  natural  prince  "  show 
how  deep  was  the  attachment  for  the  Burgundian 
policy  and  how  much  Maximilian's  foreign  origin 
had  counted  against  him.  The  new  prince,  who 
had  never  left  his  Belgian  provinces  and  whose 
education  had  been  entrusted  to  Belgian  tutors, 
became  the  symbol  of  national  independence,  and 
all  the  restrictions  which  had  been  exacted  from 
Mary  of  Burgundy  and  from  Maximilian  were 
allowed  to  lapse  in  his  favour.  He  was  not  asked 
to  ratify  the  Great  Privilege  nor  the  various 


THE  "JOYOUS  ENTRY  145 

promises  made  by  Maximilian.  His  "  Joyous 
Entry  of  Brabant  "  was  very  much  on  the  same 
lines  as  those  sworn  previously  by  Philip  the 
Good  and  Charles  the  Bold.  The  prince's  com- 
missaries were  restored  to  their  offices  and  had 
again  the  power  to  choose  communal  magis- 
trates, thus  removing  them  from  the  direct  in- 
fluence of  the  corporations.  The  Ducal  Council 
was  reappointed,  and  a  special  ordinance  of  1495 
provided  for  the  reconstitution  of  the  prince's 
estates.  The  Parliament  of  Malines  was  re- 
established under  the  name  of  "  Grand  Council." 
In  fact,  all  the  ground  lost  by  centralization 
since  the  death  of  Charles  the  Bold  was  rapidly 
reconquered  without  any  opposition,  and  the 
States  General  made  no  difficulty  in  granting  the 
taxes.  Such  an  extraordinary  transformation  can 
only  be  explained  if  we  remember  that  almost  all 
foreigners  had  been  excluded  from  the  Council  of 
the  prince.  Out  of  fourteen  councillors,  two  only 
were  Germans  and  three  of  Burgundian  origin. 
Philip  himself  did  not  even  know  German  and 
had  become  estranged  from  his  father.  The 
readiness  with  which  he  accepted  the  counsels 
of  his  Belgian  advisers,  the  Princes  of  Croy  and 
the  Counts  of  Berg  and  Lalaing,  had  gained  for 
him  the  nickname  of  "  Take-advice  "  (Croit-conseil). 
Needless  to  say  his  foreign  policy  was  entirely 
directed  towards  peace.  In  vain  did  Maximilian 
endeavour  to  lure  him  into  his  intrigues  against 
France.  Philip  established  the  most  cordial  re- 
lations with  Charles  VIII.  Henry  VII  of  England, 
who  had  alienated  Maximilian's  sympathies  since 
his  reconciliation  with  France  (the  archduke  having 
even  encouraged  the  pretender  Perkin  Warbeck 

10 


146  BELGIUM 

against  him),  and  who  had  retaliated  by  transfer- 
ring the  staple  of  English  cloth  from  Antwerp 
to  Calais  and  by  forbidding  all  trade  with  the  Low 
Countries,  was  also  pacified  by  Philip  after  some 
negotiations.  In  1496,  the  two  sovereigns  signed 
the  "  Intercursus  Magnus,"  which  re-established 
commercial  relations  between  the  two  countries. 
It  is  characteristic  of  the  intimate  economic  con- 
nection between  England  and  Belgium  that  they 
were  the  first  to  sign  the  most  liberal  treaty  of 
commerce  of  the  time. 

In  1498,  after  a  new  attempt  by  Maximilian  to 
enlist  his  support  against  Louis  XII,  Philip  appealed 
to  the  States  General,  which  strongly  supported 
his  pacific  attitude.  By  the  treaty  of  Paris,  con- 
cluded in  the  same  year,  the  Belgian  prince  went 
as  far  as  renouncing  his  rights  on  Burgundy  in 
order  to  maintain  friendly  relations  and  to  keep 
the  advantages  granted  by  the  treaty  of  Senlis. 
Philip  the  Handsome,  in  so  doing,  went  farther 
than  the  dukes  themselves  :  he  deliberately  sacri- 
ficed his  dynastic  interests  to  the  welfare  of  the 
Northern  provinces. 

This  uncompromising  attitude  with  regard  to 
Belgian  interests  was  unhappily  not  destined  to 
be  adhered  to  much  longer  by  Philip.  In  1495 
he  had  been  married  to  Juana  of  Castille,  daughter 
of  his  father's  allies,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 
Through  a  series  of  deaths  in  the  family,  Juana 
became,  in  1500,  heiress  to  the  throne  of  Spain. 
From  this  moment  Philip's  line  of  conduct  changed, 
and  the  interests  of  the  Low  Countries  were 
sacrificed  to  his  dynastic  ambitions.  This  brought 
about  a  reconciliation  with  Maximilian,  who  had 
at  last  succeeded  in  enlisting  his  son's  support. 


PHILIP  THE   FAIR.  JUANA    OK   CASTII.E. 

Portraits  by  an  unknown  Flemish  painter  of  the  sixteenth  century. 


PHILIP   THE  HANDSOME 

On  the  death  of  Isabella,  in  1504,  Philip  took  the 
title  of  King  of  Castille  in  order  to  forestall  the 
intrigues  of  his  father-in-law,  Ferdinand.  With  a 
view  of  securing  the  support  of  England,  which 
had  been  somewhat  estranged  owing  to  the  new 
policy  followed  by  Philip,  the  latter  concluded  in 
1506  a  new  treaty  of  commerce,  very  unsatis- 
factory from  the  Belgian  point  of  view,  and  which 
was  therefore  called  by  the  people  the  "  Inter- 
cursus  Malus."  The  new  King  of  Spain  died  the 
same  year,  in  Burgos,  having  lost  a  great  deal 
of  the  popularity  which  he  had  so  largely  enjoyed 
during  the  first  part  of  his  reign. 

The  crisis  which  followed  was  not  so  severe  as 
that  of  1477,  but  was  very  similar  to  it.  While 
protesting  his  friendship  for  the  young  Prince 
Charles  of  Luxemburg,  then  only  six  years  old, 
Louis  XII  won  the  support  of  Erard  de  la 
Marck,  Bishop  of  Li£ge,  and  endeavoured  to  in- 
fluence the  towns  in  order  to  exclude  Maximilian 
from  the  Regency.  Under  the  threat  of  French 
ambition,  the  States  General,  however,  took  the 
same  line  as  after  the  death  of  Charles  the  Bold 
and  sent  a  deputation  to  Germany.  The  Emperor 
chose  his  daughter,  Margaret  of  Austria,  aunt  of 
Charles,  to  govern  the  Low  Countries.  This 
princess  had  not  forgotten  the  affront  she  had 
suffered  during  her  youth :  when  first  affianced  to 
Charles  VIII  she  had  been  abducted  by  the  French 
and  subsequently  restored  to  her  father.  Her 
hostility  was,  however,  directed  far  more  against 
the  Valois  than  against  France.  Widow  of 
Philibert  of  Savoy,  she  was  the  type  of  the 
great  princess  of  the  Renaissance,  and  combined 
an  intense  interest  in  Art  and  Letters  with 


148  BELGIUM 

great  diplomatic  acumen.  During  the  twenty- 
three  years  that  she  governed  Belgium,  she 
remained  a  foreigner  to  the  people.  She  did 
not  know  either  Flemish  or  German,  and  her 
culture  as  well  as  her  surroundings  remained 
entirely  French.  Devoted  to  her  nephew,  her  first 
aim  was  to  further  his  dynastic  interests,  but,  being 
very  independent  of  her  father,  whose  Austrian 
policy  she  succeeded  in  checking  several  times, 
she  was  intelligent  enough  to  realize  that  Charles's 
interests  were  also,  at  the  time,  those  of  the 
Netherlands.  Her  rule  therefore  struck  a  balance 
between  the  Hapsburg  and  the  dynastic  tendencies. 
Living  a  secluded  life  in  her  palace  of  Malines, 
and  taking  no  part  in  the  festivities  so  dear  to 
the  heart  of  the  people,  she  governed  the  Nether- 
lands without  sympathy,  but  with  enough  wisdom 
for  her  ability  to  be  recognized,  on  several  occasions, 
both  by  the  people  and  the  nobility. 

This  was  soon  made  apparent  during  the  first 
year  of  her  governance.  She  had  to  contend  with 
the  suspicions  of  the  Belgian  nobles,  headed  by 
Guillaume  de  Croy,  Lord  of  Chievres,  whom  Philip 
had  appointed  governor  on  leaving  the  country. 
The  people  of  Ghent  again  became  restive,  while, 
owing  to  the  intrigues  of  Louis  XII,  Robert  de 
la  Marck  and  the  Duke  of  Gelder  caused  serious 
trouble  in  Luxemburg  and  in  the  North.  The 
States  General,  on  their  side,  clamoured  for  peace. 
While  ordering  the  tax  to  be  levied  for  war,  in 
spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  States,  Margaret 
managed  to  conclude  with  France  the  treaty  of 
Cambrai.  This  caused  great  satisfaction  all  over 
the  country.  Chievres  was  recalled  to  the  court, 
where  he  acted  as  tutor  to  the  prince.  Again, 


ACCESSION  OF  CHARLES    V  149 

in  1513,  Margaret,  who  had  been  one  of  the  principal 
agents  in  the  League  against  France,  which,  besides 
the  Emperor,  included  the  Pope,  the  King  of 
Aragon  and  the  King  of  England,  succeeded  in 
maintaining  the  neutrality  of  the  Low  Countries, 
which,  though  benefiting  from  the  allies'  victory 
at  Guinegate  and  from  the  taking  of  Tournai, 
had  not  to  suffer  from  the  military  operations. 

The  opposition  between  Chievres  and  the 
gouvernante  was  nevertheless  constant.  It  had 
been  embittered  by  a  project  of  marriage  between 
Charles  and  Princess  Mary  of  England,  which 
Margaret  furthered  for  dynastic  reasons,  and 
which  Chievres  opposed  for  fear  of  alienating 
France.  The  reconciliation  which  took  place  in 
1514  between  Louis  XII  and  Henry  VIII,  and  the 
marriage  which  followed  between  the  French  king 
and  the  English  king's  sister,  Mary,  were  there- 
fore a  great  disappointment  to  Margaret.  Chievres 
followed  his  advantage  by  estranging  Maximilian 
from  his  daughter  and  by  urging  the  States  General 
to  demand  the  emancipation  of  Charles,  which  was 
finally  granted  by  the  Emperor  for  a  money 
consideration.  Margaret,  who  had  been  kept  in 
ignorance  of  these  intrigues,  though  deeply  hurt 
in  her  pride,  could  do  nothing  but  accept  the 
accomplished  fact. 

The  accession  of  Charles,  which  took  place  on 
January  5,  1515,  was  a  triumph  for  Chievres. 
The  situation  was  exactly  similar  to  that  which 
prevailed  when  Philip  the  Handsome  came  into 
power.  The  youth  of  the  prince,  who,  like  his 
father,  had  received  a  Belgian  education  and  was 
ignorant  of  German  and  Spanish,  his  veneration 
for  Chievres  and  his  friendship  for  his  Belgian 


I5O  BELGIUM 

counsellors,  brought  about  a  return  to  a  purely 
national  policy,  to  the  exclusion  of  any  dynastic 
tendencies.  All  foreigners  were  excluded  from  the 
Council,  the  confidants  of  Margaret  and  Maximilian 
became  suspect,  and  a  rapprochement  was  brought 
about  with  Francis  I  of  France.  A  new  commercial 
treaty  was  signed  with  Henry  VIII,  favouring,  at 
the  same  time,  relations  with  England. 

This  policy  was  not  altered  when,  in  1516, 
through  the  death  of  Ferdinand  and  owing  to  the 
disability  of  Juana  to  succeed  him,  Charles  took 
the  title  of  King  of  Spain.  Instead  of  countering 
Francis  I's  intrigues  and  his  claims  to  the  kingdom 
of  Naples  by  military  measures,  Charles,  still  bent 
on  maintaining  peace  with  France,  negotiated  the 
treaty  of  Noyon,  and  succeeded  in  persuading 
Maximilian  to  agree  to  this  treaty,  in  spite  of  the 
opposition  of  England.  A  few  months  later,  the 
young  king  and  his  Belgian  courtiers  left  for 
Spain  (1517),  Charles  having  meanwhile  consented 
to  become  a  candidate  for  the  Empire. 

These  events  were  bound  to  cause  the  same 
reaction  towards  a  dynastic  policy  which  had 
been  provoked  by  the  accession  of  Philip  the 
Handsome  to  the  throne  of  Spain.  Once  more 
Belgium  lost  her  national  prince  and  her  interests 
were  sacrificed  to  foreign  ambitions.  But  Charles 
was  so  thoroughly  Belgian  in  his  sympathies  and 
tastes  that  he  succeeded,  nevertheless,  in  retaining 
the  friendship  of  the  Belgian  nobles.  Spanish 
honours  and  titles  were  showered  on  Chievres, 
Lalaing,  Croy,  Nassau  and  others,  to  the  great 
annoyance  of  the  Spanish,  who  had  nothing  but 
scorn  for  the  boisterous  manners  of  the  Belgian 
nobility.  A  reconciliation  was  brought  about 


TREATY  OF  MADRID  l$l 

between  Chievres  and  Margaret,  who,  after  the 
death  of  Maximilian  (1519),  worked  hard  for  the 
nomination  of  Charles  as  emperor.  His  election 
was  loudly  celebrated  in  Brussels  and  all  over 
the  country,  for  the  people,  delighted  at  the 
honour  conferred  on  their  prince,  did  not  realize 
that  henceforth  their  country  was  bound  to  be  lost 
and  neglected  among  Charles's  huge  possessions. 
It  is  true  that  the  suzerainty  of  the  Empire  was 
purely  nominal,  but  the  bonds  linking  Belgium's 
destiny  to  Spain  were  far  stronger,  and  the  country 
acquired  gradually  the  situation  described  above: 
she  became  an  advance  post,  in  the  North,  of 
the  Spanish  power,  which  was  about  the  worst 
position  she  could  occupy  on  the  map  of  Europe, 
being  cut  off  from  Spain  and  isolated  among 
her  adversaries. 

This,  however,  was  not  yet  apparent,  and  the 
protestations  of  friendship  of  the  young  emperor, 
who  declared,  in  1520,  to  the  States  General,  that 
his  heart  had  always  been  "  par  dega "  (in  the 
Netherlands),  together  with  his  military  successes, 
which  resulted  in  the  signature  of  the  treaty  of 
Madrid  (1525),  were  considered  as  a  happy  omen 
for  the  future.  By  this  treaty,  Francis  I  renounced 
all  sovereignty  over  Artois  and  Flanders  and 
all  rights  over  Tournai. 

It  seemed  as  if,  in  his  sympathy  for  his  Belgian 
provinces,  the  emperor  had  been  more  clear- 
sighted than  his  subjects,  for  we  know  that  he 
entertained,  in  1527,  the  idea  of  forming  the  Low 
Countries  into  a  separate  kingdom.  If  this  pro- 
ject had  been  realized,  Belgian  independence  might 
have  been  maintained.  But  the  very  prosperity 
of  the  Low  Countries  made  such  realization  im- 


BELGIUM 

possible.  In  urgent  need  of  money  for  his  military 
expeditions,  the  emperor  could  not  deliberately 
sacrifice  his  principal  source  of  revenue — the 
taxes  provided  by  the  States  General  and  the 
loans  raised  in  Antwerp. 

Since  1522,  Margaret  had  again  taken  up  the 
governorship,  this  time  in  full  accord  with  the 
Belgian  nobility.  From  that  date  till  the  end 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  with  the  sole  exception 
of  the  short  reign  of  Albert  and  Isabella,  Belgium 
was  administered,  not  by  its  natural  princes,  but 
by  governors,  most  of  them  without  power  or 
initiative  and  obeying  orders  received  from  head- 
quarters. Charles  spent  only  ten  years  in  the 
country  until  his  abdication  in  1555.  Philip  II 
made  only  a  short  appearance,  and  until  Joseph 
II  none  of  the  rulers  who  had  the  responsibility 
of  the  government  took  enough  interest  in  the 
welfare  of  their  Belgian  subjects  to  visit  the 
provinces. 

Margaret,  however,  preserved  a  great  deal  of 
independence,  and  succeeded  in  curbing  the  will 
of  her  nephew  in  the  greater  interests  of  the 
Netherlands,  as  she  had  curbed  the  will  of  her 
father.  When,  in  1528,  war  broke  out  again 
between  the  emperor  and  an  Anglo-French  coali- 
tion, she  succeeded  in  maintaining  the  trade  with 
England.  In  the  same  way  she  constantly  opposed 
Charles's  project  to  help  his  relative,  Christian  II 
of  Denmark,  to  reconquer  his  throne,  since  such 
a  policy  would  have  ruined  Belgian  trade  with 
Denmark  and  the  Hanseatic  towns.  Finally,  in 
1529,  she  succeeded  in  negotiating  the  peace  of 
Cambrai,  whose  clauses  bear  the  mark  of  a  truly 
national  policy.  Charles  renounced  all  pretensions 


CO       >» 

"*    O 


o  3 


DEATH  OF  MARGARET   OF  AUSTRIA  153 

to  Burgundy,  while  Francis  gave  up  all  claims 
on  the  Netherlands  and  recognized  Charles's 
sovereignty  over  Artois,  Flanders,  Cambrai  and 
Tournaisis.  By  inducing  the  two  rivals  to  recog- 
nize the  established  position  and  to  renounce 
ancient  dynastic  claims  on  each  other's  domains, 
Margaret  hoped  to  ensure  a  long  peace  for  the 
greater  benefit  of  the  Netherlands.  The  final 
renunciation  of  France  of  her  rights  over  her  old 
fiefs  was  bound  also  to  consolidate  Belgian  unity, 
the  link  binding  the  provinces  to  the  Empire  being 
purely  nominal.  Thus,  after  a  struggle  of  seven 
hundred  years,  the  Western  Netherlands  were 
finally  detached  from  France.  In  order  to  cele- 
brate the  event,  Lancelot  Blondeel  designed  the 
monumental  mantelpiece  in  carved  wood  which 
may  still  be  admired,  in  the  Palace  of  Justice 
of  Bruges,  and  where  the  victorious  emperor  is 
represented  having,  on  one  side,  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella,  and  on  the  other,  Maximilian  and  Mary 
of  Burgundy,  his  maternal  and  paternal  ancestors. 
Margaret  of  Austria  died  in  1530,  at  her  palace 
of  Malines,  "  without  any  regret  save  for  the 
privation  of  her  nephew's  presence."  In  her  last 
letter  to  Charles,  she  claims  that  under  her  rule 
the  Low  Countries  were  considerably  enlarged, 
and  she  expresses  a  wish  to  obtain  for  her  work 
divine  reward,  the  commendation  of  her  sovereign 
and  the  good  will  of  his  subjects.  She  utters  a 
last  recommendation  which  shows  how  far  the 
Burgundian  tradition  had  been  preserved  by  the 
Belgian  people.  She  urges  Charles  not  to  abolish 
the  name  of  Burgundy,  and  to  leave  the  title  to 
his  successor  in  the  Low  Countries. 


CHAPTER    XIII 

THE  LAST  STAGE  OF  CENTRALIZATION 

FROM  the  death  of  Margaret,  the  emperor's  policy 
became  entirely  independent.  Though  absorbed 
by  the  affairs  of  the  Empire,  distant  military 
expeditions  and  a  recurrent  war  with  France,  he 
managed  to  devote  a  great  deal  of  attention  to 
the  Netherlands,  and  during  the  last  years  of  his 
reign,  from  1544  to  1555,  scarcely  left  the  country. 
The  Netherlands  were  far  more  important  to 
the  ruler  of  Germany,  Spain  and  half  of  the  New 
World  than  their  actual  size  might  suggest.  Not 
only  did  they  provide  one  of  the  main  sources 
of  his  revenue,  but  their  central  position  allowed 
him  to  reach  comparatively  easily  the  various 
parts  of  his  Empire  where  his  presence  might 
become  necessary.  The  scattered  possessions  of 
Charles  V  cannot  very  well  be  compared  with 
the  homogeneous  domains  of  Charlemagne,  which 
stretched  all  across  Western  Europe,  but  we  may 
nevertheless  notice  that,  in  both  Empires,  the 
Netherlands  were  allowed  to  play  a  part  dispro- 
portionate to  their  size  and  population.  Though 
France  remained  in  the  hands  of  his  rival,  the 
great  emperor  of  the  Renaissance,  just  as  the 
great  emperor  of  the  Middle  Ages,  was  obliged 
to  divide  his  attention  between  East  and  West, 
and  Brussels  was  allowed  to  play  a  part  similar 
to  that  of  Aix-la-Chapelle.  It  is  significant  that, 
at  the  time  of  Charles  V's  abdication,  this  town 

154 


MARY  OF  HUNGARY  155 

was  selected,  in  preference  to  Madrid  or  Vienna, 
as  the  stage  for  the  ceremony. 

The  second  part  of  the  reign  of  Charles  V  is 
characterized  by  the  completion  of  the  work  of 
the  Burgundian  dukes,  the  seventeen  provinces 
being  finally  brought  under  one  rule.  At  the 
same  time,  the  last  local  resistance  was  merci- 
lessly crushed  and  political  centralization  com- 
pletely established. 

Mary  of  Hungary,  Charles  V's  sister,  who  was 
chosen  by  him  to  succeed  Margaret  of  Austria, 
did  not  enjoy  the  independence  of  her  predecessor. 
She  confined  herself  to  executing  faithfully  the 
instructions  she  received,  even  at  the  cost  of  her 
popularity.  The  emperor  installed  her  at  Brussels 
in  1531.  He  had  been  previously  absolved  by 
the  pope  from  his  oath  at  the  time  of  the  Joyous 
Entry  of  Brabant,  and  proceeded  to  strengthen 
the  Central  Government  by  the  creation  of  three 
collateral  Councils  and  the  proclamation  of  a 
Perpetual  Edict  giving  a  common  constitution  to 
all  the  provinces  of  the  Netherlands.  After  his 
departure,  Mary  was  at  once  confronted  with 
military  difficulties.  Christian  II,  no  longer  re- 
strained by  Margaret,  had  concentrated  troops 
in  Holland  in  order  to  attack  Frederick  of  Holstein. 
His  violation  of  the  neutrality  of  the  Netherlands 
caused  reprisals  against  the  Dutch  merchant  fleet, 
but  Antwerp  and  Brussels  refused  to  wage  war 
in  its  defence.  Thanks  to  the  death  of  Holstein, 
Mary  succeeded  in  negotiating  a  satisfactory 
treaty  with  Denmark  at  Ghent  (1533).  The 
resistance  of  the  States  General  and  the  towns 
to  the  warlike  policy  of  Charles  caused  further 
trouble  when,  in  1536,  hostilities  between  the 


156  BELGIUM 

two  rivals  were  resumed.  In  vain  did  Mary 
endeavour  to  obtain  the  neutralization  of  the 
Low  Countries,  in  vain  did  she  offer  her  resigna- 
tion. In  spite  of  serious  reverses,  the  emperor 
maintained  his  attitude,  while  the  States  General 
declared  "  that  they  were  not  rich  enough  to 
help  him  to  conquer  France  and  Italy."  Their 
resistance  was  only  overborne  when,  in  1537, 
the  French  armies  invaded  the  Low  Countries. 
Under  this  threat,  they  voted  the  taxes  and 
organized  resistance.  The  French  king,  disap- 
pointed in  his  hopes,  signed  the  truce  of  Nice,  1538. 
The  revolt  of  Ghent,  which  broke  out  the  next 
year,  must  be  considered  as  the  last  attempt 
made  by  the  towns  to  save  their  old  privileges. 
For  the  last  time,  a  Commune  raised  its  head  to 
challenge  central  power.  In  spite  of  the  peace 
of  Cadzand,  Ghent  had  succeeded  in  preserving  a 
privileged  situation  in  the  State,  and  many  popular 
leaders  had  witnessed  with  dismay  the  progress 
made  in  1531  by  centralizing  tendencies.  Beside 
the  defence  of  local  liberties,  the  aim  of  the  revolu- 
tionaries was  to  restore  the  situation  of  the  old 
corporations,  which  was  directly  threatened  by 
the  economic  transformation  of  the  modern  regime. 
Under  the  new  conditions,  the  "  masters  "  had 
succeeded  in  enriching  themselves,  but  the  "  com- 
panions "  and  prentices  had  lost  all  the  advantages 
of  the  old  corporation  system.  Riots  caused  by 
unstable  labour  conditions  had  already  taken 
place  in  Bois-le-Duc  (1525)  and  Brussels  (1532). 
In  Ghent,  however,  the  movement  acquired  more 
threatening  proportions,  the  magistrates  being 
overwhelmed  by  the  crowd  and  the  workmen 
seizing  the  direction  of  affairs.  Charles,  who  had 


TREATY  OF   V EN  LOO  1 57 

obtained  from  Francis  I  permission  to  cross 
France  with  an  army,  condemned  to  torture  most 
of  the  leaders  of  the  movement,  suppressed  all 
the  town's  privileges  by  the  "  Caroline  concession  " 
(1540),  and  even  ordered  that  the  well-known 
bell  "  Roland "  should  be  unhung.  This  last 
punishment  remained  in  the  memory  of  the 
people  as  a  symbol  of  the  deepest  humiliation 
which  might  be  inflicted  on  any  town. 

As  soon  as  Charles  departed  for  his  expedition 
to  Algiers,  the  Netherlands  were  again  exposed 
to  the  attacks  of  his  enemies,  including  Francis  I, 
the  King  of  Denmark  and  the  Duke  of  Cleves, 
who  had  inherited  the  county  of  Gelder.  This 
time  Mary  was  strongly  supported  by  the  States 
General,  and  succeeded  in  facing  the  attacks  on 
both  sides  pending  the  return  of  the  emperor 
(1543).  The  latter  took  the  opportunity  given 
him  by  a  prompt  victory  to  settle  once  for  all 
the  Gelder  question  by  the  treaty  of  Venloo. 
The  Duke  of  Cleves  was  obliged  to  renounce  all 
rights  over  Gelder  and  Zutphen,  which  became 
integral  parts  of  the  Netherlands.  This  was 
the  last  act  of  the  work  of  territorial  unification 
pursued  by  the  dukes  of  Burgundy.  At  the 
same  time,  in  order  to  protect  the  Low  Countries 
from  French  attacks,  Charles  V  fortified  the  three 
towns  of  Marienbourg,  Charlemont  and  Philippe- 
ville,  called  after  Mary  of  Hungary,  Charles  himself 
and  his  son  Philip. 

Thus,  at  last,  the  Low  Countries  reaped  some 
advantage  from  the  constant  expenses  which  they 
had  to  sustain  owing  to  incessant  European  wars. 
They  were  no  longer  able  to  pursue  an  independent 
policy,  and,  if  the  States  preserved  a  certain 


158  BELGIUM 

liberty,  it  was  mainly  because  they  could  be 
induced  to  vote  war-taxes,  these  being,  so  to 
speak,  the  ransom  which  the  so-called  "  free " 
Netherlands  paid  to  their  ruler.  During  Charles's 
youth,  almost  all  the  revenues  of  the  State  had 
been  drawn  from  the  prince's  domain,  but  towards 
the  end  of  his  reign  the  levies  extorted  from  the' 
people  became  more  and  more  heavy  and  frequent. 
The  annual  budget  rose  from  one  million  pounds 
in  1541  to  two  and  a  half  millions  in  1542  and 
six  and  a  half  millions  in  1555.  To  these  annual 
contributions  we  must  add  the  numerous  loans 
raised  by  the  Government  on  the  security  of  the 
provinces.  The  interest  on  these  loans  weighed 
heavily  on  the  budget.  It  was  £141,300  in 
1552,  £424,765  in  1555,  and  rose  to  £1,357,287  in 
1556.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  States  General 
could  grant  taxes  but  not  control  expenditure, 
so  that  most  of  the  money  raised  in  the  Nether- 
lands was  spent  on  foreign  expeditions  from 
which  the  country  could  reap  no  benefit.  Up 
to  1552,  when  gold  from  Mexico  and  Peru  arrived 
in  Spain,  the  Low  Countries  remained  the  main 
source  of  the  income  of  the  emperor. 

With  the  annexation  of  Tournaisis,  Friesland, 
Utrecht,  Gelder  and  Zutphen  and  the  protectorate 
over  the  prince-bishopric  of  Liege,  which,  under 
Erard  de  la  Marck  (1506-38),  had  finally  accepted 
Hapsburgian  control,  the  unification  of  the  Low 
Countries  was  completed.  It  still  remained  to 
give  the  country  its  definite  status.  Thanks  to 
the  treaties  of  Madrid  and  Cambrai,  all  connection 
with  France  had  been  severed,  but  the  Reichstag 
endeavoured,  on  several  occasions,  to  revive  the 
nominal  rights  of  the  Empire  on  the  Low  Countries 


TRANSACTION   OF  AUGSBURG  159 

and  to  compel  the  provinces  to  pay  the  imperial 
tax.  The  emperor,  foreseeing  that  his  son  might 
not  succeed  him  in  Germany,  was  not  at  all  keen 
to  encourage  such  claims.  On  the  contrary,  he 
exempted,  by  his  own  free  will,  the  Low  Countries 
from  the  imperial  tax,  and  he  endeavoured  to  make 
it  a  sovereign  country  attached  to  Spain,  which 
should  remain,  with  it,  the  heritage  of  the  Haps- 
burg  family.  We  are  far  from  the  time  when  he 
entertained  the  suggestion  of  creating  a  separate 
kingdom  in  the  Low  Countries,  under  the  inspira- 
tion of  his  Burgundian  advisers,  and  though  this 
suggestion  recurred  in  1539  and  1544,  connected 
with  the  project  of  the  marriage  of  the  emperor's 
daughter  with  the  French  prince,  the  sincerity  of 
the  emperor's  proposals,  at  that  time,  may  cer- 
tainly be  questioned. 

The  victory  of  Muhlberg  (1547)  provided  Charles 
with  an  excellent  opportunity  to  settle  definitely 
the  situation  of  the  Netherlands  towards  the 
Empire.  Cowed  into  submission,  the  Reichstag 
readily  admitted  the  Transaction  of  Augsburg 
(1548),  by  which  the  Netherlands  became  the 
"  circle  of  Burgundy,"  under  the  protection  of 
the  Empire,  and  whose  sovereign  was  represented 
on  the  Reichstag.  The  circle  undertook  to  pay 
a  small  subsidy,  but  was  entirely  independent  of 
imperial  jurisdiction  and  imperial  laws.  In  fact, 
it  constituted  an  independent  sovereign  State, 
which  benefited  from  the  Empire's  military  pro- 
tection without  any  obligation  on  its  side,  since 
the  emperor  had  no  means  to  enforce  the  payment 
of  the  tax  in  case  it  should  be  refused. 

The  Augsburg  Transaction  was  completed  in 
1549  by  tne  Pragmatic  Sanction,  which  unified 


l6o  BELGIUM 

the  successorial  rights  of  all  the  provinces.  This 
new  edict  marked  a  new  stage  in  the  work  of 
centralization  by  securing  the  inheritance  of  all 
the  provinces  to  the  same  prince.  Thus,  of  the 
two  essential  characteristics  of  modern  States, 
unity  and  independence,  the  first  was  practically 
achieved  ;  the  second,  however,  was  not  yet  within 
sight.  It  is  characteristic  of  the  status  of  Belgium, 
as  established  by  Charles  V,  that  this  period  of 
consolidation  marks  the  final  break  up  of  the 
Burgundian  tradition.  The  principle  of  nationality, 
which  had  asserted  itself  so  clearly  under  Philip 
the  Handsome  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  reign 
of  Charles  V,  was  finally  defeated,  and,  for  two 
centuries  and  a  half,  the  dynastic  principle  of 
the  Hapsburgs  was  destined  to  dominate  the 
fate  of  the  country. 

In  the  same  year  that  the  Pragmatic  Sanction 
was  signed,  Prince  Philip  visited  the  Netherlands. 
The  appearance  of  the  young  prince  and  his 
education  were  in  complete  contrast  to  those 
of  his  father  and  grandfather.  His  name  only 
was  Burgundian.  He  did  not  know  a  word  of 
Flemish  and  only  spoke  French  with  great  diffi- 
culty. All  his  manners,  all  his  views,  were  those 
of  a  Spanish  aristocrat,  and  it  did  not  take  long 
for  the  Belgian  nobles  and  notables  who  were 
brought  into  contact  with  him  to  realize  that 
their  future  ruler  would  always  remain  a  foreigner 
in  the  country. 

The  failure  of  Philip  to  secure  the  title  of  King 
of  the  Romans  strengthened  still  more  the  links 
which  bound  Belgium  to  Spain.  His  marriage 
with  Queen  Mary  of  England  might  have  re- 
established a  healthier  balance  between  South 


ABDICATION   OF  CHARLES    V  l6l 

and  North,  to  the  greater  benefit  of  the  Low 
Countries,  but  this  union  was  only  an  episode  in 
Philip's  life,  and  he  was  perhaps  more  foreign  to 
England  than  he  was  to  Belgium,  since  he  did 
not  benefit  in  the  former  country  from  any  senti- 
mental attachment  to  his  family. 

On  October  25,  1555,  the  emperor,  who  suffered 
from  ill-health  and  desired  to  spend  his  last  years 
in  retreat,  called  together  the  States  General  in 
Brussels  and  solemnly  abdicated  his  power  in 
favour  of  his  son.  He  recalled  in  his  speech  the 
ceremony  of  his  accession,  which  had  taken  place 
forty  years  before  in  the  same  hall,  and,  after 
surveying  rapidly  the  wars  and  struggles  of  his 
reign  and  the  perils  to  which  he  had  been  exposed, 
he  recommended  his  son  to  the  affection  of  his 
subjects,  exhorting  them  to  remain  united,  to 
uphold  justice  and  to  fight  heresy.  At  the  end 
of  his  speech,  he  asked  forgiveness  for  the  wrongs 
he  had  committed  and  was  unable  to  control  his 
feelings.  "HI  weep,  gentlemen,"  he  concluded, 
"  do  not  think  that  it  is  because  I  regret  the 
sovereign  power  which  I  abandon ;  it  is  because 
I  am  compelled  to  leave  the  country  of  my  birth 
and  to  part  from  such  vassals  as  I  had  here." 
His  emotion  was  shared  by  the  Belgian  represen- 
tatives, who  realized  that,  whatever  harm  the  great 
emperor  had  inflicted  upon  his  favourite  provinces, 
Belgium  had  nevertheless  found  in  him,  on  several 
occasions,  some  sympathy  and  understanding. 
Parting  from  him,  they  may  have  foreseen  that 
they  were  parting  from  their  last  natural  and 
national  prince.  This  feeling  was  only  increased 
when  Charles,  turning  towards  his  son,  addressed 
him  in  Spanish,  and  when  the  latter,  in  his  answer 

H 


1 62  BELGIUM 

to  the  address  of  the  States  General,  excused 
himself  for  not  being  able  to  speak  to  them  in 
French. 

The  Burgundian  dukes  had  endeavoured  to 
convert  Belgium  into  a  modern  centralized  State, 
with  common  institutions,  a  permanent  army,  a 
loyal  nobility  and  docile  States  General.  This  part 
of  their  work  was  crowned  with  success,  and  it  is 
significant  that  the  word  "  patrie  "  comes  to  be 
used  by  Belgian  writers  towards  the  middle  of 
the  sixteenth  century.  But  the  dukes  had  also 
pursued  an  independent  policy,  free  from  any 
foreign  influence  and  inspired  by  the  country's 
interests,  since  the  country's  prosperity  was  a 
condition  of  their  own  welfare  and  of  the  stability 
of  their  dynasty.  This  part  of  their  work  had 
been  progressively  destroyed.  Belgium  was  here- 
after ruled  neither  from  Bruges  nor  from  Brussels, 
but  from  distant  capitals  and  by  ministers 
and  councillors  entirely  unacquainted  with  and 
indifferent  to  its  economic  interests  and  social 
aspirations. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

ANTWERP 

THE  economic  and  social  development,  accom- 
panying the  political  transformation  which  we 
have  just  witnessed,  was  entirely  dominated  by 
the  amazing  prosperity  of  the  city  of  Antwerp. 
The  latter  became,  during  the  first  part  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  the  first  market  and  the  first 
banking  centre  in  the  world.  For  trade,  limited 
during  the  two  former  centuries  to  Europe,  now 
extended  to  the  New  World,  and  the  Atlantic 
route  hereafter  played  a  more  and  more  important 
part.  The  same  causes  which  brought  about  the 
decadence  of  Venice  were  the  direct  causes  of 
the  growth  of  Antwerp.  It  is  true  that  Bruges 
occupied  a  similar  position  on  the  map,  and  from 
being  a  purely  European  market  might  have 
become  a  world-metropolis.  We  have  seen  that 
the  silting  up  of  the  Zwyn  did  not  account  alone 
for  the  rapid  decadence  of  the  Flemish  city,  and 
that  the  conservatism  of  the  Guilds  and  Corpora- 
tions, their  attachment  to  their  old  privileges 
and  their  disregard  of  modern  tendencies,  were 
the  main  reasons  of  its  downfall.  In  1513,  Damme 
and  Sluis  were  partly  in  ruins,  and  in  the  middle 
of  the  century,  whole  quarters  of  Bruges  were 
emptied  of  their  inhabitants,  while  over  seven 
thousand  destitute  depended  on  charity.  Un- 
hampered by  mediaeval  traditions  and  enjoying 
the  advantages  of  a  deeper  and  more  accessible 

163 


164  BELGIUM 

harbour,  Antwerp  was  bound  to  secure  the 
heritage  of  its  former  rival  and  to  add  to  it  the 
prosperity  derived  from  the  opening  of  new 
markets  and  the  rapid  widening  of  the  circle 
of  trade  activity  during  the  Renaissance. 

As  opposed  to  Bruges,  Antwerp  characterizes 
modern  capitalist  tendencies  resting  on  the  free- 
dom of  trade  and  on  individual  initiative.  The 
advantages  enjoyed  by  foreigners  in  the  new 
metropolis  drew  gradually  towards  it  the  powerful 
companies  of  Spanish,  English  and  German  mer- 
chants, whose  presence  was  so  essential  in  a  market 
where  most  of  the  imported  goods  were  re-exported 
to  distant  countries.  The  Florentine  Guicciardini, 
who  resided  in  the  Low  Countries  from  1542  to 
1589,  describes  Antwerp  as  "an  excellent  and 
famous  city,"  where  30,000,000  florins'  worth  of 
merchandise  arrives  every  year,  and  in  whose 
Exchange  transactions  of  40,000,000  ducats  take 
place.  Out  of  its  100,000  inhabitants,  10,000  to 
15,000  were  foreigners.  There  were  13,500 
"  beautiful,  agreeable  and  spacious  "  houses,  and 
the  rents  varied  from  200  to  500  ecus  yearly. 
The  inhabitants  "  are  well  and  gaily  clothed ; 
their  houses  are  well  kept,  well  ordered  and  fur- 
nished with  all  sorts  of  household  objects.  The 
air  of  the  country  is  thick  and  damp,  but  it  is 
healthy  and  encourages  the  appetite  and  the 
fecundity  of  the  people."  He  insists,  in  his 
description,  on  the  abundant  life  led  by  the  rich 
bourgeois  of  the  great  city. 

The  decadence  of  the  cloth  industry,  caused 
by  the  development  of  English  weaving,  did  not 
greatly  affect  the  prosperity  of  Antwerp,  since  it 
benefited  from  the  import  of  English  cloth,  which 


INDUSTRIAL   PROSPERITY  165 

arrived  at  its  docks  in  a  rough  state  and  was 
dyed  and  prepared  by  local  artisans.  Besides, 
urban  industry  in  Flanders  and  Brabant  had  to 
a  great  extent  been  replaced  by  rural  industry. 
Employers  found  in  the  country  districts  the 
cheap  labour  that  was  needed,  owing  to  foreign 
competition,  and,  for  a  hundred  workers  who  lost 
their  employment  in  the  towns,  thousands  of 
weavers  were  only  too  ready  to  work  up  the  raw 
material  provided  for  them  by  the  merchants. 
The  linen  industry,  which  more  and  more  took 
the  lead,  recruited  its  labour  in  the  same  way, 
not  only  in  Flanders  but  also  in  Brabant,  Holland 
and  Hainault.  The  flax  of  the  country  provided 
excellent  raw  material,  notably  in  the  region 
of  the  Lys,  whose  water  was  specially  suitable 
for  retting.  In  1530,  England  bought  from 
Flanders  100,000  marks'  worth  of  linen  in  the 
course  of  the  year.  It  was  soon  found  necessary 
to  import  flax  from  Russia. 

The  development  of  tapestry  contributed  also 
to  fill  up  the  gap  caused  by  the  decadence  of 
clothmaking.  From  Arras,  where  it  had  flourished 
since  the  eleventh  century,  it  extended,  in  the 
fifteenth  century,  to  the  regions  of  Alost,  Oude- 
narde,  Enghien,  Tournai  and  Brussels,  and,  in  the 
sixteenth,  to  those  of  Binche,  Ath,  Lille,  Louvain 
and  Ghent.  The  Low  Countries  were  especially 
suited  to  this  branch  of  industry,  owing  to  the 
perfection  of  dyeing  methods  and  to  the  great 
number  of  painters  and  draughtsmen  able  to 
provide  the  workers  with  beautiful  designs.  Here, 
again,  most  of  the  artisans  were  villagers,  in  spite 
of  the  resistance  of  the  old  corporations.  Around 
Oudenarde,  in  1539,  about  fourteen  thousand 


1 66  BELGIUM 

men,   women  and  children   were   engaged  in  this 
work. 

Even  the  region  of  the  Meuse  was  affected.  It 
possessed  mineral  resources  besides  great  hydraulic 
power  in  its  rapid  streams.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  reign  of  Charles  V,  a  great  number  of  forges 
and  blast  furnaces  heated  with  wood  were  in- 
stalled in  Namurois.  According  to  Guicciardini, 
"  there  was  a  constant  hammering,  forging,  smelt- 
ing and  tempering  in  so  many  furnaces,  among 
so  many  flames,  sparks  and  so  much  smoke,  that 
it  seemed  as  if  one  were  in  the  glowing  forges 
of  Vulcan."  Such  a  description  must  not  be 
taken  too  literally,  and  the  beginnings  of  the  metal 
industry  in  the  Southern  provinces  were  very 
modest  indeed,  compared  with  present  conditions. 
But,  even  then,  a  sharp  distinction  was  drawn 
between  the  employers,  usually  some  rich  bour- 
geois of  the  town,  who  had  the  means  to  set  up 
these  embryo  factories,  and  the  rural  popula- 
tion employed  to  work  them.  While  these  new 
conditions  were  developing,  the  corporations  of 
Dinant,  which  had  for  a  long  time  monopolized 
the  copper  industry,  were  fast  disappearing, 
partly  owing  to  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  the 
raw  material  from  the  mines  of  Moresnet,  but 
chiefly  owing  to  the  protectionist  spirit  of  the 
Guilds,  which  would  not  adapt  themselves  to 
modern  needs.  At  the  same  period,  the  coal 
industry  was  growing  in  importance  in  the  Liege 
district,  the  use  of  coal  being  extended  from 
domestic  consumption  to  the  metal  industry. 
By  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  all  the  super- 
ficial seams  which  could  be  worked  by  means  of 
inclined  planes  were  practically  exhausted,  and 


RURAL   CONDITIONS  l6/ 

it  was  found  necessary  to  resort  to  blasting  and 
to  sink  pits,  in  order  to  reach  the  lower  strata. 
The  bourgeois  of  Lie"ge  furnished  the  necessary 
funds  for  this  innovation,  which  they  were  the 
first  in  Europe  to  undertake,  so  that  the  new 
industry  soon  acquired  the  same  capitalistic  char- 
acter which  we  have  noticed  in  the  metal  industry, 
tapestry  and  textiles. 

Though  the  condition  of  the  peasantry  was 
very  prosperous  and  agricultural  methods  had 
improved,  the  increase  of  large  properties,  due  to 
the  investment  in  land  of  the  money  acquired 
by  trade  and  industry,  favoured  the  development 
of  a  large  class  of  agricultural  labourers,  whose 
situation  contrasted  unfavourably  with  that  of 
the  large  tenant  and  the  smaller  farmer. 

In  every  branch  of  economic  activity,  modern 
methods  rapidly  supplanted  mediaeval  conditions. 
From  the  general  point  of  view  of  the  country's 
prosperity,  the  change  was  beneficial  and  the 
princes  showed  wisdom  in  supporting  it.  A  return 
to  the  narrow  regulations  and  guild  monopolies 
of  the  fourteenth  century  would  have  proved  as 
fatal,  in  the  fifteenth,  as  a  return  to  the  feudal 
system  in  the  thirteenth.  The  princes  supported 
the  rich  merchants  and  employers  in  the  Renais- 
sance, as  they  supported  the  Communes  in  the 
twelfth  century.  The  corporation  system,  which 
had  proved  a  boon  at  that  time,  had  become  an 
obstacle  to  free  activity  and  initiative  and  had 
therefore  to  be  sacrificed.  But,  at  the  same  time, 
the  formation  of  a  large  class  of  unorganized  rural 
workers,  who  had  no  means  of  defending  them- 
selves against  the  ruthless  exploitation  of  their 
employers,  was  bound  to  prove  a  cause  of  social 


1  68  BELGIUM 

unrest.  It  was  among  these  uneducated  masses 
that  the  Anabaptists  recruited  most  of  their 
followers,  and  the  industrial  population  around 
Hondschoote  and  Armentieres  provided  the  first 
bands  of  iconoclasts  whose  excesses  contributed 
so  much  to  confuse  the  issue  of  the  revolution 
against  Spain.  Modern  monarchy,  which  had 
upheld  the  new  order  of  things,  became  the  scape- 
goat of  the  discontented,  and  the  suffering  and 
exasperated  people  were  no  longer  able  to  dis- 
tinguish between  the  evil  brought  about  by  un- 
restrained capitalism  and  the  good  resulting  from 
the  organization  of  a  strongly  centralized  State. 


Antwerp  was  not  only  the  centre  of  economic 
activity  for  the  Low  Countries,  it  became,  as  early 
as  1518,  the  cradle  of  Lutheranism.  It  is  needless 
to  recall  here  how  the  doctrines  of  Martin  Luther, 
born  in  the  German  Empire,  had  gradually  spread 
through  Northern  Europe,  and  how  his  criticism 
of  the  morals  of  the  clergy  had  originated  a  criti- 
cism of  the  dogmas  of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion. 
Hitherto  similar  movements,  such  as  those  started 
in  the  Low  Countries  by  Gerard  de  Brogne  and 
the  Beggards  during  the  Middle  Ages,  and,  during 
the  last  century,  by  Gerard  de  Groote,  the  founder 
of  the  Brothers  of  the  Common  Life,  had  confined 
themselves  to  fighting  the  excesses  of  the  Church, 
remaining  throughout  orthodox,  as  far  as  the 
dogmas  were  concerned.  Now  the  principle  of 
free  individualism  was  transplanted  from  the 
economic  to  the  religious  domain,  and  capitalistic 
initiative  and  freedom  of  trade  found  correspond- 


HUMANISM  169 

ing  expression  in  free  interpretation  of  the  Bible. 
The  movement  had  been  prepared  and,  to  a  certain 
extent,  favoured  by  the  educative  action  of  the 
Brothers  of  the  Common  Life,  who,  though  remain- 
ing strictly  faithful  to  the  Church,  had  never- 
theless substituted,  in  their  schools,  lay  for  clerical 
teaching.  It  is  interesting  to  remark  that  both 
Humanism,  as  represented  by  its  greatest  master, 
Erasmus,  and  the  art  of  printing,  represented  by 
Thierry  Maertens  and  Jean  Veldener,  who  were  its 
originators  at  Alost  and  Louvain,  were  closely 
connected  with  the  educational  movement  pro- 
moted by  the  Brothers.  Erasmus  had  first  studied 
at  Deventer.  The  extraordinary  success  of  his 
Adagia,  published  in  1500,  and  of  his  early  works, 
influenced  by  Thomas  More  (with  whom  he  had 
been  brought  into  contact  during  his  stay  in 
England  as  a  protege  of  Lord  Mount  joy),  seems 
certainly  strange  in  view  of  the  unbending  attitude 
taken  by  Charles  V  towards  Lutheranism.  But 
Humanism  had  become  the  fashion  in  high  aris- 
tocratic and  ecclesiastical  circles,  and  neither  the 
young  emperor  nor  his  gouvernante,  Mary  of 
Hungary,  disguised  their  interest  in  the  move- 
ment. It  is  true  that  Erasmus  endeavoured  to 
reconcile  Christian  dogmas  with  the  new  philosophy 
inspired  by  the  Classics,  but  his  attacks  against 
asceticism,  the  celibacy  of  the  priests  and  the 
superstition  and  ignorance  of  the  monks  would 
certainly  not  have  been  tolerated  if  they  had 
influenced  social  life  at  large.  The  situation,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century,  among 
intellectuals  and  aristocrats  was  very  much  the 
same  as  that  which  prevailed  at  the  courts  of 
France,  Prussia  and  Russia  at  the  end  of  the 


170  BELGIUM 

eighteenth  century.  Princes  and  nobles  extended 
to  Voltaire  similar  favours,  and  for  the  same 
reasons.  As  long  as  their  situation  in  the  State 
was  not  threatened,  they  encouraged  doctrines 
and  intellectual  pursuits  which,  besides  providing 
them  with  fresh  interests  and  distractions,  justified 
to  a  certain  extent  the  laxity  of  their  morals. 
But,  whatever  their  personal  convictions  might 
have  been,  their  attitude  had  to  change  entirely  as 
soon  as  the  doctrine  was  adopted  by  the  common 
people  and  when  the  privileges  of  Church  and 
State,  so  closely  bound  together,  began  to  be 
questioned  by  the  masses.  That  Charles  V's 
policy  was  not  prompted  only  by  his  affection 
for  the  Church  is  shown  by  the  fact  that,  a  few 
years  before,  he  had  subjected  the  pope's  Bull 
to  his  "  placet,"  taken  measures  to  restrict  mort- 
main (which  exempted  Church  property  from 
taxation),  and  had  obtained  the  right  to  designate 
bishops. 

It  must  be  acknowledged  that,  as  the  new 
doctrines  spread  from  the  aristocracy  to  the 
people,  they  assumed  a  more  extreme  character. 
The  first  step  in  this  direction  was  taken  by 
Lutheranism,  whose  attacks  against  dogmas  were 
far  more  precise  and  categoric  than  those  of  the 
Humanists.  In  the  Low  Countries,  however, 
Lutheranism,  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  was  still  tolerant.  It  mainly  affected  a 
few  nobles  and  a  number  of  rich  bourgeois.  Church 
and  State,  according  to  them,  were  separate 
entities,  and  one  could  remain  perfectly  loyal  to 
the  prince  while  denying  the  authority  of  the 
pope.  They  professed,  in  other  words,  the  prin- 
ciple of  liberty  of  conscience,  and,  while  pre- 


ANABAPTISTS  17 1 

serving  the  right  to  separate  themselves  from  the 
dominant  Church,  they  did  not  make  any  attempt 
to  enforce  their  theories  on  any  unwilling  converts. 
The  first  "  placard  "  issued  against  them  by  the 
emperor  was  extremely  severe  in  terms,  since  it 
condemned  all  heretics  to  death,  but  was  very 
lightly  applied.  The  men  were  to  perish  by  the 
sword,  the  women  to  be  buried  alive  and  re- 
canters  to  be  burnt.  But  the  Belgian  bishops 
were  unwilling  to  denounce  the  Lutherans  and  to 
deliver  them  to  the  secular  arm.  Influenced  by 
his  Spanish  advisers,  some  of  whom  had  initiated 
the  Spanish  Inquisition,  Charles,  in  1523,  trans- 
ferred the  right  of  prosecution  from  the  bishops 
to  three  special  inquisitors  enjoying  full  powers. 
The  first  executions  were  too  rare  to  impress  the 
public  mind  in  an  age  when  such  spectacles  were  so 
frequent  for  other  reasons,  and  the  "  placards," 
which  had  received  the  sanction  of  the  States 
General,  did  not  provoke  much  opposition.  A 
new  stage  was  reached  in  1530  by  the  appearance 
of  Anabaptism,  which  had  spread  from  Miinster 
into  Holland  and  Gelder.  Melchior  Hoffmann,  the 
leader  of  this  movement,  claimed  to  found  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  by  the  sword.  He  incensed 
the  poor  people  by  inflammatory  speeches  in 
which  he  invited  them  to  install  the  new  regime 
of  brotherhood  on  the  ruins  of  the  old  world. 
Their  triumph  would  be  the  "  day  of  vengeance." 
His  success  among  the  sailors  and  the  agricultural 
labourers  of  the  North,  who  endured  great  suffer- 
ings under  the  new  economic  conditions  and 
owing  to  the  war  with  Denmark,  was  very  rapid, 
and  ought  to  have  been  a  warning  to  the  govern- 
ing classes.  The  Anabaptists  did  not  make  any 


172  BELGIUM 

distinction  between  Church  and  State,  like  the 
Lutherans,  neither  did  they  entertain  the  idea  of 
freedom  of  conscience.  They  were  as  extremist 
in  their  views  as  the  Spanish  inquisitors.  They 
intended  to  enforce  their  social  and  mystic  doc- 
trines on  a  reluctant  population  and  appealed  to 
open  revolution.  In  fighting  them,  the  Govern- 
ment was  backed  by  the  immense  majority  of 
the  population,  and,  after  the  fall  of  Minister, 
this  danger  was  for  the  time  averted. 

A  few  years  later,  however,  Calvinism,  spread 
by  Swiss  and  French  disguised  predicants,  began 
to  make  considerable  progress  among  the  rural 
population  of  the  Western  and  Northern  provinces. 
The  Calvinists,  like  the  Anabaptists,  did  not 
believe  in  freedom  of  conscience.  They  opposed 
the  fanaticism  of  the  Spanish  inquisition  with 
the  fanaticism  of  the  Reformers  and  opened  the 
fight  without  any  idea  of  conciliation.  They  dis- 
tributed satiric  pamphlets,  secretly  printed,  in 
which  the  Church  and  the  court  were  grossly 
caricatured,  and  their  loathing  for  the  worship  of 
the  Virgin  and  the  Saints  degenerated  into  blas- 
phemy and  sacrilege.  They  found  very  little 
favour  among  the  educated  classes,  but  made  a 
number  of  converts  among  the  discontented  pro- 
letarians, who  led  a  very  miserable  life  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  most  important  industrial 
centres.  To  counteract  this  propaganda,  Charles 
issued  a  new  "  placard,"  in  1550,  which  forbade 
the  printing,  selling  or  buying  of  reformist 
pamphlets,  together  with  any  public  or  private 
discussion  on  religious  matters.  Even  to  ask 
forgiveness  for  a  heretic  or  to  abstain  from  de- 
nouncing him  was  considered  as  a  crime  punishable 


CALVINISTS  173 

by  death  and  confiscation  of  property.  Half  of 
the  fortune  of  the  condemned  went  to  the  denun- 
ciator, the  other  half  to  the  State.  Only  in  one 
quarter,  in  the  nominally  independent  bishopric 
of  Liege,  where  Erard  de  la  Marck  issued  similar 
decrees,  was  the  repression  successful.  Every- 
where else,  the  number  of  new  proselytes  increased 
with  that  of  the  executions,  and  when  the  em- 
peror abdicated,  it  seemed  evident  that  a  war 
of  religion  could  not  be  averted.  This  war  was 
destined  to  break  up  Belgian  unity,  which  had 
only  just  been  entirely  achieved.  This  might 
have  been  averted  if  Belgium  had  been  allowed 
to  cope  with  the  Reformation  crisis  in  all  inde- 
pendence, according  to  the  social  conditions  of 
the  time,  like  other  European  States.  A  truly 
national  prince  and  Government  would,  no  doubt, 
have  succeeded  in  keeping  the  country  together, 
but  Belgium  no  longer  enjoyed  the  advantage  of 
being  ruled  by  national  princes.  Hapsburgian 
dynastic  principles  had  conquered  Burgundian  tra- 
ditions. Orders  no  longer  emanated  from  Brussels 
but  from  Madrid,  so  that  to  the  obstacles  created 
by  religious  differences  and  class  hatred  was 
added  the  bitter  conflict  between  patriots  and 
foreign  rulers. 


CHAPTER    XV 

THE   BEGGARS 

THROUGH  a  most  unhappy  coincidence,  the  prince 
on  whose  shoulders  the  fate  of  the  country  was 
to  rest  during  the  critical  times  to  come  was  the 
first,  since  the  beginning  of  unification,  to  be 
entirely  unpopular  in  the  Low  Countries.  Even 
Maximilian,  who  could  not  adapt  himself  to 
Belgian  manners,  found  some  moral  support  in 
the  presence  of  his  wife,  and,  later  on,  of  his  son 
and  heir.  But  no  link  of  sympathy  and  under- 
standing could  exist  between  the  haughty  and 
taciturn  Spaniard  and  his  genial  subjects,  between 
the  bigoted  incarnation  of  autocracy  and  the 
liberty-loving  population  of  the  Netherlands,  so 
that  even  the  personal  element  contributed  to 
render  the  task  of  government  more  difficult. 

Philip's  first  visit,  in  1549,  had  hardly  been  a 
success.  His  second  stay  in  the  country  did  not 
improve  the  impression  he  had  produced  on  those 
who  had  approached  him.  In  1557  Henry  II  of 
France  had  resumed  hostilities.  The  campaign 
which  followed  was  signalled  by  the  brilliant 
operations  of  the  Count  of  Egmont,  who,  first 
before  St.  Quentin  and  the  next  year  at  Gravelines, 
inflicted  severe  reverses  on  the  enemy.  But,  in 
spite  of  the  satisfactory  treaties  of  Cateau-Cam- 
braisis  and  the  marriage  of  Philip  with  the  French 
Princess  Elisabeth,  which  was  a  good  omen  for 
peace,  the  people  of  the  Netherlands  remained 

174 


MARGUERITE   OF  PARMA  175 

discontented.  They  had  again  been  called  upon 
to  pay  the  cost  of  a  war  which  did  not  concern 
them  directly,  and  they  were  deeply  incensed  by 
the  continued  presence  of  Spanish  troops,  who, 
irregularly  paid,  committed  incessant  excesses. 
Several  Belgian  deputies  vented  their  grievances 
rather  freely,  urging  the  king  to  deliver  them  from 
these  "  destructive  brigands."  Philip,  hurt  in  his 
pride,  left  the  Low  Countries  for  Spain,  on  August 
25,  1559,  without  any  intention  of  ever  returning. 
He  had  left  behind  him  as  gouvernante  Mar- 
guerite of  Parma,  a  natural  daughter  of  Charles, 
who  lacked  neither  education  nor  intelligence,  but 
whose  initiative  was  paralysed  by  the  detailed 
secret  instructions  she  had  received.  She  had 
been  told  not  to  make  any  important  decision 
without  the  advice  of  a  secret  council  called  the 
"  Consulta,"  formed  by  three  courtiers  who  were 
merely  creatures  of  the  king  :  Granvelle,  Bishop 
of  Arras,  the  jurist  Viglius  d'Ayetta  and  Charles 
de  Berlaymont.  It  was,  however,  impossible  to 
keep  such  an  institution  secret,  and  the  Council 
of  State,  whose  functions  were  unconstitutionally 
superseded  by  the  action  of  the  Consulta,  naturally 
resented  such  interference.  Among  the  most 
prominent  members  of  the  opposition  were  William 
of  Nassau,  Prince  of  Orange,  governor  of  Holland, 
Zeeland  and  Utrecht ;  Lamoral,  Count  of  Egmont, 
governor  of  Flanders  and  Artois  ;  and  Philippe 
de  Montmorency,  Count  of  Horn,  grand  admiral 
of  the  Flemish  seas.  These  three  nobles  were 
moderate  Catholics,  the  two  first  being  strongly 
influenced  by  the  tolerant  spirit  of  Humanism, 
especially  Orange,  who,  though  brought  up  as  a 
Catholic,  had  had  a  Lutheran  father. 


176  BELGIUM 

The  clergy  had  been  also  aggravated  by  Philip 
owing  to  the  creation,  in  1559,  of  fourteen  new 
dioceses,  added  to  the  four  ancient  bishoprics  of 
Arras,  Cambrai,  Tournai  and  Utrecht.  Such  a 
reform  had  already  been  contemplated  by  Philip 
the  Good,  and  it  would  have  caused  no  opposition 
if  the  bishops  had  been  nominated  by  the  pope, 
as  in  mediaeval  times.  But,  owing  to  Charles  V's 
religious  policy,  they  were  now  selected  by  the 
king,  and  his  choice,  which  included  several 
inquisitors,  was  much  criticized  by  the  Belgian 
clergy  and  the  abbots.  The  promotion  of  the 
parvenu  Granvelle  to  the  supreme  dignity  of 
Archbishop  of  Malines,  in  1561,  added  still  more 
to  the  discontent. 

The  same  year,  ceding  to  the  entreaties  of 
Marguerite,  Philip  consented  to  withdraw  the 
Spanish  troops.  This  measure  gave  satisfaction 
to  the  people,  but  did  not  placate  the  grievances 
of  the  nobles  and  of  the  clergy.  At  the  instiga- 
tion of  William  of  Orange,  the  States  of  Brabant 
openly  supported  the  Council  of  State  in  its 
opposition  to  Granvelle  and  the  Consulta.  This 
was  brought  to  a  climax  by  the  refusal  of  Orange, 
Egmont  and  Horn  to  sit  on  the  Council  as  long 
as  Granvelle  remained  in  the  country.  Again, 
Marguerite  supported  the  attitude  of  her  Council 
and,  reluctantly,  Philip  resigned  himself  to  recall 
his  minister  (1564). 

These  first  incidents  were  insignificant  compared 
with  the  crisis  confronting  the  Government  owing 
to  the  rigorous  application  of  Charles  V's 
"  placards."  Philip  had  issued  no  new  edicts,  deem- 
ing, no  doubt,  that  his  father's  were  sufficiently 
comprehensive,  but  these  were  to  be  rigorously 


THE   PLACARDS  177 

enforced.  In  his  farewell  message  to  the  States 
General,  he  had  declared  that  "  a  change  of 
religion  cannot  occur  without  at  the  same  time 
changing  the  republic,"  and  it  was  a  subject 
on  which  he  was  not  prepared  to  compromise. 
The  increasing  number  of  Protestants,  owing  to 
the  continued  Calvinistic  propaganda,  rendered  the 
placards  more  and  more  odious  and  their  applica- 
tion almost  impossible.  Marguerite  herself  de- 
clared that  "  continual  executions  strained  public 
opinion  more  than  the  country  could  stand."  In 
1565  the  Council  of  State  deputed  Egmont  to  go 
to  Spain  in  order  to  entreat  Philip  to  moderate 
his  instructions,  but,  in  spite  of  the  courteous 
reception  given  to  him,  the  journey  of  the  count 
remained  without  result.  The  horror  inspired  by 
the  Inquisition  to  Catholics  and  Protestants  alike 
increased  every  day,  and  the  constant  emigration 
of  intellectuals  and  skilled  workers  to  England 
caused  considerable  uneasiness. 
*  Queen  Elizabeth  was  ready  to  welcome  Belgian 
Calvinists.  She  assigned  the  town  of  Norwich  as 
the  principal  centre  for  their  settlement.  Quite 
apart  from  her  sympathy  for  the  followers  of  the 
Reform,  she  realized  that  the  introduction  of  the 
refugees'  various  industries  into  England — in- 
cluding tapestry — was  likely  to  prove  invaluable 
to  this  country.  She  resented  the  economic 
rivalry  of  the  Low  Countries,  and,  on  several 
occasions,  disregarded  commercial  treaties,  levying 
taxes  on  imports  from  the  Netherlands  and 
ignoring  the  raids  of  English  privateers  in  the 
North  Sea.  It  was  high  time  to  find  means  of 
checking  emigration. 

A  few  Calvinist  notables,  Jean  de  Marnix  and 
12 


1 78  BELGIUM 

Louis  of  Nassau,  William's  brother,  among  them, 
conceived  the  plan  of  linking  together  all  the  nobles 
opposed  to  Philip's  policy.  They  drew  up  a  com- 
promise acceptable  to  both  parties  in  which  the 
signatories  swore  to  "  defend  the  privileges  of  the 
country  and  prevent  the  maintenance  of  the  Inqui- 
sition," without  undertaking  anything  "  which 
would  be  to  the  dishonour  of  God  and  the  king." 
Over  two  thousand  adherents,  nobles,  bourgeois 
and  ecclesiastics,  signed  this  document,  and  on 
April  5,  1556,  three  hundred  nobles  presented  a  peti- 
tion to  Marguerite.  The  regent  having  assured  them 
that  she  would  apply  the  placards  with  moderation 
while  awaiting  the  king's  orders,  they  promised, 
on  their  side,  to  do  their  utmost  to  maintain 
public  order.  Two  days  later,  the  delegates  were 
invited  to  a  banquet  by  the  Calvinist  Count  of 
Keulenburg.  They  appeared  at  this  function 
dressed  as  beggars  in  rough  gowns,  carrying  wallets 
and  bowls,  and  when  Brederode,  emptying  his 
bowl,  toasted  them,  the  cry  of  "  Long  live  the 
Beggars  !  "  was  repeated  with  enthusiasm  by  the 
whole  assembly.  Tradition  has  it  that  the  reason 
for  this  disguise  was  a  disparaging  reflection 
made  by  Count  Berlaymont  when  the  nobles  ap- 
peared before  the  regent  in  simple  dress  as  a  sign 
of  protest  against  the  reckless  expenditure  which 
was  ruining  the  provinces.  But  the  medals  struck 
at  the  time  and  worn  by  nobles  and  bourgeois 
suffice  to  explain  the  incident.  These  medals  bore, 
on  one  side,  the  effigy  of  the  king,  and  on  the  other, 
two  hands  joined  over  a  wallet,  with  the  inscrip- 
tion :  "  Faithful  to  the  king  even  to  beggary." 

The    "  Compromise "    implied    liberty    of    con- 
science, but  this  remained  open  to  interpretation. 


THE  BEGGARS  1/9 

Most  of  the  signatories  considered  that  the  fol- 
lowers of  the  Reform  would  merely  be  tolerated, 
Catholicism  remaining  the  only  State  and  public 
worship.  These  were  the  "  Beggars  of  State." 
The  Calvinists,  on  the  other  hand,  the  "  Beggars 
of  Religion,"  claimed  full  liberty  to  proclaim 
their  faith,  to  "  fight  Roman  idolatry  "  through 
their  propaganda  and  to  transform  the  institutions 
of  the  country.  In  order  to  keep  the  two  parties 
together,  in  their  struggle  against  foreign  inter- 
ference, it  would  have  been  necessary  to  persuade 
both  sides  to  adopt  a  more  moderate  attitude 
and  entirely  to  dissociate  the  affairs  of  State  from 
religious  convictions.  Orange  tried  to  obtain  this 
result.  At  the  time,  he  drew  his  main  support 
from  the  German  Lutherans,  who  had  accepted 
the  "  Religions  Friede."  But  the  Lutherans  were 
only  a  small  minority  in  the  Low  Countries  com- 
pared to  the  Calvinists,  who  were  in  close  touch 
with  the  French  Huguenots.  In  order  to  conciliate 
Catholics  and  Protestants,  the  prince  endeavoured 
to  bring  the  Lutherans  and  Calvinists  together, 
and  even  entered  into  negotiations  with  the 
Calvinist  leader,  Gui  de  Bray.  His  efforts  failed 
completely,  the  Calvinists  declaring  that  "  they 
would  rather  die  than  become  Lutherans."  From 
that  time,  owing  partly  to  Philip's  policy  in 
exasperating  the  people  by  the  application  of 
the  placards  and  partly  also  to  the  fanatic  attitude 
adopted  by  the  new  sect,  the  Reform  entered  on  a 
new  phase  in  the  Low  Countries.  No  concessions 
on  the  part  of  the  Government  would  satisfy  the 
extremists,  bent  on  complete  victory  or  separation. 
These  tendencies  were  soon  made  apparent  by 
the  return  of  many  emigrants  and  the  number 


i8o  BELGIUM 

of  open  air  "  predicants "  who  held  meetings 
where  the  people  flocked,  armed  with  sticks  and 
weapons.  The  moderation  shown  by  Marguerite 
came  too  late.  It  was  merely  considered  as  a 
proof  of  weakness  and  emboldened  the  Reformers 
to  redouble  their  attacks. 

Their  task  was  considerably  facilitated  by  the 
misery  prevalent  in  the  country,  due  to  the  bad 
harvest  of  the  year  and  to  the  increased  cost  of 
living  brought  about  by  the  paralysis  of  many 
branches  of  trade.  A  great  many  merchants  had 
left  Antwerp,  and  in  the  region  of  Oudenarde 
alone  eight  thousand  weavers  were  unemployed. 
The  Church  was  held  responsible  for  the  misery 
endured  by  the  people ;  class  hatred  and  fanaticism 
combined  to  make  it  the  scapegoat  for  all  grie- 
vances. In  Flanders,  some  agitators  produced 
letters,  supposed  to  have  been  sealed  by  the  king, 
by  which  the  pillage  of  the  churches  was  ordered. 

Suddenly,  on  August  nth,  armed  bands  invaded 
the  churches,  convents  and  monasteries  of  the 
region  of  Hondschoote  and  Armentieres,  breaking 
all  statues,  tearing  pictures  and  manuscripts,  and 
destroying  church  treasures  and  ornaments.  The 
movement  spread  to  Ypres  and  Ghent,  ravaged 
the  cathedral  of  Antwerp  and  passed  like  a 
hurricane  over  Holland  and  Zeeland  only  to 
stop  in  Friesland,  on  September  6th.  During 
nearly  a  month  the  authorities  of  the  Western 
and  Northern  provinces  allowed  the  destruction 
to  continue  without  daring  or  trying  to  stop  it. 
Under  the  impression  caused  by  the  rising  of  the 
"  Iconoclasts,"  the  Council  of  State  obtained  from 
Marguerite  the  abolition  of  the  Inquisition  and 
the  authorization  for  the  Protestants  to  hold 


THE  INQUISITION  l8l 

their  meetings  publicly,  but  unarmed  and  only 
in  such  places  where  similar  meetings  had  already 
been  organized.  In  return  for  these  last  conces- 
sions, the  nobles  dissolved  their  confederation  and 
applied  themselves  to  the  re-establishment  of  order. 
Just  as  the  Inquisition  had  deepened  the  gulf 
between  the  two  parties  and  stiffened  the  resist- 
ance of  the  followers  of  the  Reform,  the  excesses 
of  the  Iconoclasts  exasperated  the  moderate 
Catholics  and  rendered  union  more  and  more 
difficult.  The  Count  of  Mansfeld,  a  Belgian 
Catholic,  was  made  governor  of  Brussels  by 
Marguerite,  who  placed  herself  under  his  protec- 
tion. A  great  many  moderate  nobles,  who  had 
taken  part  in  the  Compromise,  rallied  round  the 
Government,  and  it  was  suggested  that,  in  order 
to  counteract  the  revolutionary  movement,  it 
would  be  wise  to  obtain  from  all  the  nobles  of 
the  kingdom  a  new  oath  of  fealty  to  the  king. 
This  measure  was  bound  to  cause  a  split.  The 
small  group  of  Calvinist  nobles,  headed  by  the 
brothers  Marnix,  Louis  of  Nassau  and  Brederode, 
abstained  from  taking  the  oath.  Orange  himself 
was  led  by  his  followers  into  adopting  an  in- 
transigent attitude,  though  he  had  not  yet  given 
up  the  hope  of  realizing  union. 


CHAPTER    XVI 

SEPARATION 

THE  year  1567  marks  the  beginning  of  civil  war 
in  the  Low  Countries.  Up  till  then,  the  nobility 
and  the  States  General  had  worked  more  or  less 
together,  acting  as  intermediaries  between  the 
Government  and  the  people.  The  sovereign  rights 
of  the  king  had  never  been  questioned.  Hence- 
forth, the  Low  Countries  were  to  be  divided  into 
two  parties,  having  their  headquarters  in  the 
South  and  in  the  North.  Both  aimed  at  pre- 
serving their  national  liberties  and  equally  resented 
foreign  oppression,  but,  while  the  people  of  the 
Northern  provinces  decided  to  sever  all  connection 
with  Spain,  the  people  of  the  South  were  loath  to 
part  from  their  national  dynasty  and  were  easily 
conciliated  as  soon  as  the  Government  adopted  a 
moderate  attitude  ;  while  the  people  of  the  North 
adopted  Calvinism  as  their  only  public  religion, 
the  people  of  the  South  remained  attached  to 
the  Roman  Church. 

The  story  of  the  sixteenth-century  revolution 
in  the  Low  Countries  is  so  well  known  that  it  is 
scarcely  necessary  to  recall  again  here  the  details 
of  events.  From  the  point  of  view  of  the  forma- 
tion of  Belgian  nationality,  the  revolution  has  an 
extraordinary  importance,  since  it  engendered 
the  separation  of  the  Low  Countries  into  two 
distinct  nationalities,  which  were  later  to  be  known 
as  Belgian  and  Dutch.  Most  English  readers 

182 


NORTH  AND  SOUTH  183 

who  remember  their  Motley,  or  any  of  the  less 
valuable  writings  he  inspired,  are  under  the 
impression  that  if  the  Belgians  did  not  adopt 
the  same  attitude  as  the  Dutch  all  through  the 
struggle  against  Spain,  it  was  either  because 
they  were  blinded  by  their  religious  prejudices  or 
because  their  patriotism  did  not  rise  to  the  same 
exalted  height.  Such  an  opinion  is  perfectly 
plausible,  but  it  does  not  sufficiently  take  into 
account  the  intransigent  and  selfish  attitude 
adopted  by  the  Northern  provinces,  the  political 
mistakes  committed  by  their  leader,  and  the 
difference  between  the  strategical  position  and 
the  economic  interests  of  the  revolutionaries  in 
the  North  and  in  the  South  of  the  country.  It 
may  therefore  be  useful  to  examine  the  efforts 
made  towards  unity  during  the  struggle  and  the 
causes  of  their  failure. 

The  steps  taken  by  the  Calvinist  nobles  which 
resulted  in  the  failure  of  de  Marnix  to  seize  Ant- 
werp (March  I3th)  and  the  taking  of  Valenciennes 
by  Government  troops  (March  24th)  were  followed 
by  a  strong  reaction.  The  placards  were  again 
enforced,  and  a  rumour  began  to  spread  that  the 
Duke  of  Alba  was  being  sent  by  Philip  to  the 
Netherlands  at  the  head  of  a  strong  army.  At 
this  news  over  a  hundred  thousand  Protestants 
emigrated  to  England  or  to  the  North. 

Many  people  in  Southern  Belgium  were,  how- 
ever, unable  to  believe  in  the  possibility  of  ruthless 
repression,  and  even  some  of  those  who  had  taken 
an  active  part  in  recent  events  remained  in  the 
country.  They  did  not  know  the  intentions  of 
the  Duke  of  Alba  and  the  instructions  he  had 
received  from  his  master.  "  I  will  try  to  arrange 


184  BELGIUM 

the  affairs  of  religion  in  the  Low  Countries," 
wrote  Philip  at  the  time,  "  if  possible  without 
having  recourse  to  force,  because  this  means 
would  imply  the  total  destruction  of  the  country, 
but  I  am  determined  to  use  it  nevertheless,  if 
I  cannot  otherwise  arrange  everything  as  I  wish." 
When,  after  a  fortnight  of  festivities,  the  duke 
suddenly  ordered  the  arrest  of  the  Counts  of 
Egmont  and  Horn  (September  9th),  the  people 
were  taken  entirely  by  surprise.  In  spite  of  the 
protests  of  Marguerite  and  the  counsels  of  modera- 
tion of  the  pope  and  the  Emperor  Maximilian, 
repression  was  systematically  organized  by  the 
Council  of  Troubles,  soon  called  the  "  Council  of 
Blood."  Egmont  and  Horn  were  executed  on 
June  5th,  and  all  those  who  had  participated  in 
the  agitation  of  the  Compromise  and  the  Iconoclast 
movement  were  arrested.  During  the  three  years 
which  followed,  from  six  to  eight  thousand  people 
perished.  All  resistance  was  impossible.  Only  a 
few  bands  of  Beggars  kept  to  the  woods  ("  Bosch- 
geuzen  ")  and  a  few  privateers  operated  in  the 
North  Sea  ("  Zeegeuzen ").  Alba  repulsed  with 
equal  success  the  attacks  of  Louis  of  Nassau 
and  of  the  Prince  of  Orange.  "  The  people  are 
very  pleased,"  he  declared ;  "  there  is  no  people 
in  the  world  more  easy  to  govern  when  one  knows 
how  to  manage  them."  The  new  taxes  he  raised 
in  1569  to  pay  for  the  cost  of  the  war  rendered 
his  regime  still  more  odious.  These  taxes  of 
I  per  cent,  on  all  property,  5  per  cent,  on  the  sale 
of  real  estate  and  10  per  cent,  on  the  sale  of  all 
goods,  were  of  course  unconstitutional,  and  for 
a  long  time  Brussels  and  Louvain  refused  to 
pay  them.  When  at  last  they  came  into  force, 


PROTESTANT  SUCCESSES  185 

in  1571,  all  trade  stopped  and  the  people  opposed 
passive  resistance  amid  great  privations  and 
sufferings.  The  situation  was  at  last  relieved  by 
the  bold  coup  de  main  of  the  Sea  Beggars  on 
the  port  of  La  Brielle,  in  Zeeland.  Up  till  then, 
they  had  sought  refuge  in  the  English  ports,  but 
in  1572  Queen  Elizabeth  closed  her  ports  to 
them,  and  the  seizure  of  a  naval  base  in  the  Low 
Countries  became  imperative.  The  taking  of  La 
Brielle,  coming  as  it  did  in  the  worst  time  of 
Spanish  oppression,  provoked  unbounded  enthu- 
siasm. Successively  Flushing,  Rotterdam,  Schie- 
dam, and  soon  all  Zeeland  and  Holland,  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  towns,  revolted  against  the 
duke.  The  Huguenots  were  no  less  active  in 
the  South,  where  La  Noue  seized  Valenciennes 
and  Louis  of  Nassau  Mons  (May  25th).  Orange 
himself  advanced  victoriously  through  Gelder 
towards  Brabant.  These  successes  roused  great 
hopes  in  the  Southern  provinces,  but  were  unhap- 
pily marred  by  the  massacre  of  the  monks  at 
Gorcum  and  other  excesses.  They  were  abruptly 
stopped  by  the  news  of  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartho- 
lomew, Orange's  French  allies  being  obliged  to 
leave  his  army. 

Holland  and  Zeeland  became  henceforth  the 
centre  of  resistance.  These  provinces  had  not 
taken  an  important  share  in  the  life  of  the  Low 
Countries  during  the  Middle  Ages.  Their  pros- 
perity was  of  comparatively  recent  date  and 
mainly  due  to  their  merchant  fleet,  which  brought 
to  Antwerp  wood  and  corn  from  the  Baltic  and 
wine  from  Bordeaux.  Their  sailors  had  ventured 
as  far  as  Madeira  and  the  Azores,  and,  on  being 
stopped  by  Charles  V  from  reaching  America  by 


1 86  BELGIUM 

the  Southern  route,  had  endeavoured  to  find  a 
route  to  India  by  the  North.  From  the  beginning 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  Amsterdam  had  become 
the  great  corn  market,  Middleburg  the  centre  of 
the  French  wine  trade,  and  the  shipyards  of  Vere, 
Goes  and  Arnemuyden  were  among  the  most  active 
in  Northern  Europe.  The  influx  of  capital  result- 
ing from  trade  and  shipping  was  used  to  reclaim 
marshes,  to  build  fresh  dikes  and  to  increase 
considerably  the  cultivated  area.  Nowhere  else, 
according  to  Guicciardini,  was  prosperity  so  general 
or  did  the  traveller  meet  such  "  clean  and  agree- 
able houses  and  such  smiling  and  well  cared  for 
country."  Economically  speaking,  the  Northern 
provinces  were  only  beginning  to  feel  the  benefit 
of  the  advantages  of  their  position,  already  so 
manifest  in  Antwerp.  They  were,  so  to  speak, 
in  a  stage  of  formation,  and  far  more  ready  to 
cut  loose  the  links  of  tradition  with  an  obscure 
past  and  to  throw  themselves  into  some  great 
adventure  in  which  they  might  try  their  strength. 
They  occupied,  besides,  a  safer  situation  than 
the  South,  controlling  the  outlets  of  three  great 
streams  and  the  adjoining  seas,  among  low-lying 
lands  which,  as  a  last  resort,  could  be  flooded 
in  order  to  stop  the  advance  of  an  enemy  or  cut 
off  his  retreat.  This  situation  adapted  itself 
remarkably  well  to  a  defensive  strategy  by  land 
and  an  aggressive  strategy  by  sea.  The  small 
number  of  inhabitants  and  the  small  forces  avail- 
able rendered  any  offensive  by  land  against  the 
Spanish  armies  extremely  dangerous,  so  that  the 
Southern  provinces,  exposed  on  all  sides  to  in- 
vasion, were  left  to  shift  for  themselves.  It  so 
happened  that  the  Prince  of  Orange,  the  principal 


REQUESENS  1 87 

leader  of  the  opposition,  had,  as  governor  of 
Holland  and  Zeeland,  acquired  a  great  popularity 
in  the  country,  which  was  considerably  increased 
by  his  conversion  to  Calvinism.  He  had  been 
made  "  Stadhouder "  of  his  provinces  and  had 
found  great  resources  in  the  confiscation  of  eccle- 
siastical property. 

The  next  campaign  (1572-73)  affords  an  excellent 
example  of  the  strength  of  Orange's  position. 
He  was  finally  able  to  compel  the  duke  to  raise 
the  siege  of  Alknaar,  in  spite  of  his  overwhelming 
superiority  in  numbers  and  of  the  striking  suc- 
cesses which  had  marked  his  progress  from  Malines 
to  Zutphen,  to  Naarden  and  to  Harlem.  The 
Spanish  retreat,  in  October  1573,  coincided  with 
a  naval  defeat  off  Endhuizen.  Alba,  discouraged, 
left  the  Low  Countries  in  December  and  was 
replaced  by  a  Spanish  aristocrat,  Louis  de  Zuniga 
y  Requesens. 

Philip  was  at  last  resigned  to  make  some  con- 
cessions, but  remained  adamant  with  regard  to 
religion.  Thanks  to  the  victory  won  by  the 
Spaniards  at  Mook,  where  Louis  of  Nassau  lost 
his  life,  Requesens  was  able  to  grant  some  of 
the  claims  of  the  States  General  without  losing 
prestige.  He  proclaimed  a  general  amnesty,  sup- 
pressed the  taxes  of  10  per  cent,  and  5  per  cent., 
and  induced  the  Council  of  Troubles  not  to  pro- 
nounce any  more  death  sentences.  He  would 
not,  however,  dismiss  the  Spanish  troops,  and 
the  North  having  refused  to  negotiate,  the 
Spaniards  laid  siege  to  Ley  den.  In  1575  Maxi- 
milian offered  his  mediation,  and  a  congress  was 
held  at  Breda  between  the  representatives  of 
Philip  and  of  the  Prince  of  Orange.  The  religious 


1 88  BELGIUM 

question,  however,  proved  a  stumbling-block, 
Philip  maintaining  Catholicism  as  the  only  State 
religion  and  the  prince  asking  for  a  guarantee  with 
regard  to  the  preservation  of  liberty  of  conscience. 
After  the  death  of  Requesens,  on  March  15, 
1576,  the  administration  was  taken  over  by  the 
Council  of  State,  including  the  moderate  Catholics, 
Mansfeld,  Berlaymont  and  Viglius.  They  hastened 
to  suppress  the  Council  of  Troubles,  but  were 
unable  to  disband  the  Spanish  army,  in  spite  of 
the  insistence  of  the  provincial  States,  owing 
to  the  lack  of  funds  for  their  arrears  of  pay.  At 
the  beginning  of  July  some  Spanish  units  took 
Alost,  which  became  the  centre  of  pillaging  ex- 
peditions. These  excesses  and  the  increasing 
danger  of  the  situation  brought  about  a  recon- 
ciliation between  Orange  and  the  Belgian  nobles, 
and  once  more  the  dream  of  a  common  country 
came  within  reach  of  realization.  The  States  of 
Brabant  proscribed  the  Spanish  soldiers  and  called 
the  citizens  to  arms.  The  members  of  the  Council 
of  State  were  arrested  and  the  States  General 
assembled.  In  spite  of  the  irregularity  of  such 
procedure,  all  the  provinces  sent  their  representa- 
tives with  the  sole  exception  of  Luxemburg. 
Philip  was  still  proclaimed  "  sovereign  lord  and 
natural  prince,"  but  the  command  of  the  national 
troops  was  given  to  the  Belgian  nobles,  and 
Orange  was  asked  to  help  in  reducing  the  rebellious 
soldiery  and  in  besieging  the  citadels  of  Ghent 
and  Antwerp.  While  the  delegates  of  the  Stad- 
houder  and  of  the  States  conferred  in  Ghent, 
news  reached  them  of  the  terrible  excesses  com- 
mitted, on  November  4th,  by  the  Spanish  soldiers 
in  Antwerp,  during  the  course  of  which  seven 


PACIFICATION   OF  GHENT  1 89 

thousand  people  lost  their  lives.     These  riots  are 
remembered  as  the  "  Spanish  Fury." 

Deplorable  though  they  were,  they  would  not 
have  been  too  heavy  a  price  to  pay  if  national 
unity  could  have  been  maintained.  Never  did  it 
seem  nearer  at  hand.  With  fresh  memories  of 
Alba's  regime  and  the  wholesale  executions  of 
the  Council  of  Blood,  under  the  direct  influence 
of  the  terrible  news  from  Antwerp,  the  Belgian 
Catholics  were  never  more  ready  to  wipe  off  old 
grievances,  to  forget  the  sacrileges  of  the  Icono- 
clasts, the  massacre  of  Gorcum  and  the  persecution 
of  those  of  their  faith  in  the  North.  The  Paci- 
fication of  Ghent  was  signed  on  November  8th. 
The  seventeen  provinces  allied  themselves  into  a 
confederation,  promised  to  render  each  other 
mutual  help,  to  expel  the  Spanish  armies,  to 
suppress  the  placards  and  the  ordinances  of  the 
Duke  of  Alba  and  to  proclaim  a  general  amnesty. 
Liberty  of  conscience,  however,  was  only  pro- 
claimed in  fifteen  provinces.  Calvinism  remained 
the  only  religion  permitted  in  Holland  and  Zee- 
land.  It  is  true  that  the  pre-eminent  situation 
of  Catholicism  was  recognized  and  that  the  Pro- 
testants were  not  allowed  any  public  manifesta- 
tions outside  Holland  and  Zeeland,  but  if  we  take 
into  account  the  fact  that,  all  over  the  country, 
the  Catholics  were  far  more  numerous  than  their 
rivals,  this  last  clause  of  the  Pacification  of  Ghent 
shows  that  the  Calvinists  were  bent  on  exacting 
all  the  advantages  of  the  situation  they  had  so 
heroically  conquered  and  that  the  moderates  of 
the  Southern  provinces  still  found  themselves 
placed  between  the  hammer  of  Spanish  domina- 
tion and  the  anvil  of  Calvinist  sectarianism. 


BELGIUM 

The  Prince  of  Orange  cannot  be  held  entirely 
responsible  for  missing  this  unique  opportunity 
of  concluding  with  his  compatriots  a  fair  and 
liberal  compact.  His  correspondence  shows  that 
he  had  hard  work  to  reconcile  his  partisans  even 
to  such  one-sided  religious  conclusions  as  those 
expressed  hi  the  Pacification  of  Ghent,  and  that 
in  many  instances  he  had  to  resign  himself  to 
being  led  in  order  to  be  allowed  to  lead. 

This  mistake  was  bound  to  bear  fruit,  when  the 
new  Governor,  Don  Juan  of  Austria,  a  natural 
son  of  Charles  V  who  had  covered  himself  with 
glory  at  the  battle  of  Lepanto,  reached  the  country, 
in  November  1576.  Philip,  aware  that  the  Nether- 
lands would  escape  him  if  he  did  not  make  some 
sacrifices,  had  given  Don  Juan  still  freer  instruc- 
tions than  those  given  to  Requesens.  The  religious 
question  only  was  excluded  from  concessions. 
Besides,  the  king  hoped  that  the  Belgians  would 
be  flattered  by  the  choice  of  a  prince  of  the  blood 
and  would  be  captivated  by  the  romantic  reputa- 
tion of  this  striking  representative  of  Renaissance 
nobility.  Negotiations  between  Don  Juan  and 
the  States  General  were  rendered  difficult  by  the 
opposition  of  the  partisans  of  Orange  and  by 
the  want  of  good  faith  on  the  part  of  the  new 
Governor,  who,  while  promising  to  recall  the 
Spanish  troops,  was  discovered  secretly  negotiating 
with  them.  The  first  Union  of  Brussels  was, 
however,  concluded  on  January  9,  1577.  The 
States  promised  to  obey  the  king  and  to  maintain 
the  Catholic  religion  as  the  only  State  religion 
all  through  the  country.  On  the  other  hand, 
Don  Juan,  by  the  Edict  of  Marche,  known  as 
"  Edit  Perpetuel,"  undertook  to  convoke  the 


DON  JUAN  IQI 

States  General,  to  recall  the  Spanish  troops  and 
not  to  persecute  the  partisans  of  the  Reform. 
Orange  and  his  partisans  in  Holland  and  Zeeland 
naturally  refused  to  ratify  such  an  arrangement, 
which  violated  the  articles  of  the  Pacification  of 
Ghent. 

Don  Juan  entered  Brussels  in  May,  after  dis- 
missing the  Spanish  troops,  but,  in  spite  of  all 
his  efforts,  was  unable  to  ingratiate  himself  in 
the  eyes  of  the  population.  Most  of  the  people 
had  resented  the  signature  of  the  Union  of  Brussels, 
and  when  the  negotiations  with  the  Northerners 
broke  off  and  Don  Juan  asked  for  troops  to  fight 
them,  he  met  with  a  curt  refusal.  Alarmed  by 
this  veiled  hostility  and  exasperated  by  his  pro- 
tracted negotiations  with  Orange,  Don  Juan  shut 
himself  up  in  the  fortress  of  Namur  and  recalled 
the  Spanish  troops.  Nothing  better  could  have 
happened  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  patriots, 
and  the  differences  which  had  begun  to  under- 
mine the  work  of  the  Pacification  of  Ghent,  during 
the  last  months,  were  promptly  forgotten.  William 
of  Orange  made  a  triumphal  entry  into  Brussels 
on  September  23rd.  He  was  greeted  as  the 
liberator  of  his  country,  amid  scenes  of  unbounded 
enthusiasm.  He  was  proclaimed  "  Ruwaert  "  of 
Brabant  and  his  authority  did  not  meet  with  any 
further  open  opposition. 

Faithful  to  his  principles,  Orange  endeavoured 
to  establish  liberty  of  conscience  in  the  Low 
Countries.  His  ideas,  however,  were  only  shared 
by  a  few  friends  whose  rather  elastic  religious 
principles  allowed  them  to  sacrifice  sectarianism 
to  the  higher  interests  of  the  State.  They  did 
not  suit  the  Catholic  aristocracy,  who,  though 


192  BELGIUM 

strongly  opposed  to  Spain,  remained  attached  to 
legitimist  principles.  They  did  not  suit  Calvinist 
democrats,  who,  though  in  a  minority,  intended  to 
overwhelm  all  opposition.  The  intellectuals  among 
them  propounded  the  idea  of  the  "  Monarcho- 
maques  "  that  "  the  prince  existed  for  the  people, 
not  the  people  for  the  prince,"  while  the  unedu- 
cated classes  already  proclaimed  the  principle 
of  modern  democracy  and  universal  suffrage  and 
questioned  the  right  of  the  States  to  represent 
the  people.  Since  August  1577  Brussels  had 
been  practically  in  the  hands  of  the  Commune,  repre- 
sented by  a  Council  of  Eighteen.  Similar  Councils 
had  seized  power  in  some  provincial  towns,  and 
at  Ghent,  where  the  Calvinists  dominated  the 
Commune,  the  articles  of  the  Pacification  were 
entirely  disregarded,  the  churches  being  plundered 
and  the  priests  persecuted.  Holland  and  Zeeland 
maintained  an  expectant  and  somewhat  moody 
attitude.  They  resented  their  leader's  concessions 
to  the  Catholics  and  were  not  over-enthusiastic 
towards  unification.  They  felt  themselves  stronger 
than  the  rest  of  the  country  and  had  largely 
benefited  from  the  closing  of  the  Scheldt  and  the 
momentary  stoppage  of  Antwerp's  trade.  They 
were  loath  to  sacrifice  such  advantages  for  the  sake 
of  joining  hands  with  "  Papists  and  monarchists." 
As  the  democratic  tendencies  and  Calvinist 
excesses  were  more  and  more  apparent,  following 
the  return  of  Orange  to  Brussels,  the  Catholic 
aristocracy  of  the  Southern  provinces  became 
alarmed.  The  nobles  were  afraid  of  the  attitude 
adopted  by  the  people  concerning  their  privileges 
and  of  the  personal  prestige  of  Orange.  They 
endeavoured  to  check  his  power  by  inviting  foreign 


POLICY  OF  ORANGE  193 

princes  to  take  the  leadership  of  the  country. 
The  Duke  of  Aerschot  induced  Archduke  Matthias, 
brother  of  the  Emperor,  to  come  to  the  Low 
Countries,  but  Orange  easily  countered  this 
manoeuvre  by  arresting  the  duke  and  opening 
negotiations  with  Matthias,  who  signed  the  second 
Union  of  Brussels,  on  December  10,  1577,  an(^ 
guaranteed  liberty  of  conscience.  The  young 
archduke  was  henceforth  a  mere  figurehead  and 
Orange  remained  the  real  ruler  of  the  country. 

To  add  to  the  confusion,  Don  Juan  opened  an 
offensive,  a  few  days  later,  and  easily  defeated 
the  national  troops  which  opposed  his  progress 
in  Luxemburg,  Namur  and  Hainault,  forcing  the 
Government  to  take  refuge  in  Antwerp.  It  be- 
came more  and  more  apparent  that  the  provinces 
could  not  rid  themselves  of  the  Spaniards  without 
appealing  to  foreign  help.  The  Emperor  Rudolph 
being  unwilling  to  support  Matthias,  the  latter 
had  become  practically  useless.  In  spite  of  re- 
peated entreaties,  Queen  Elizabeth  would  not 
consent  to  give  military  help.  She  encouraged 
the  revolution,  since  it  proved  a  drain  on  Philip's 
resources  and  an  efficient  protection  from  Spanish 
enterprise  against  England,  but  she  would  not 
openly  break  with  Spain.  Only  France  remained. 
As  early  as  July  1578,  Count  de  Lalaing  en- 
deavoured to  repeat  with  the  Duke  of  Anjou, 
Henry  Ill's  brother,  the  manoeuvre  of  Aerschot. 
He  sought,  at  the  same  time,  to  deliver  the  country 
from  Spain  with  foreign  help  and  to  check  the 
increasing  power  of  Orange  and  all  he  stood  for 
in  his  eyes.  Anjou  had  no  respect  for  the  liberties 
and  aspirations  of  the  provinces,  neither  did  his 
rather  tepid  religious  convictions,  as  a  Catholic. 

13 


194  BELGIUM 

prince,  stand  in  his  way.  He  hoped  to  obtain 
the  title  of  sovereign  of  the  Netherlands  and 
thus  to  increase  his  chances  of  succeeding  in  his 
suit  for  the  hand  of  Queen  Elizabeth. 

Once  more  Orange  took  for  himself  the  plans 
propounded  by  his  enemies.  He  negotiated  with 
Anjou,  who  received  the  title  of  "  Defender  of 
the  Liberties  of  the  Low  Countries"  in  exchange 
for  some  military  help.  Don  Juan  was  obliged 
to  retreat  on  Namur,  where  he  died,  completely 
disheartened,  on  October  i,  1578,  leaving  his 
lieutenant,  Alexander  Farnese,  Duke  of  Parma, 
to  continue  the  struggle. 

The  situation,  during  the  last  months  of  1578, 
had  become  extremely  intricate.  The  Spanish 
troops,  commanded  by  Farnese,  held  the  Southern 
provinces  as  far  as  the  Sambre  and  the  Meuse. 
Holland  and  Zeeland  maintained  their  powerful 
position  in  the  North,  but,  between  Spanish  and 
Dutch  headquarters,  the  country  was  thrown 
into  a  state  of  complete  anarchy,  and  the  power 
of  the  Stadhouder,  who,  from  Antwerp,  tried 
vainly  to  maintain  unity,  was  more  and  more 
disregarded.  The  Act  of  Religious  Peace,  which 
he  had  issued  in  June  and  which  placed  the  two 
confessions  on  a  footing  of  equality,  though 
endeavouring  to  conciliate  everybody,  only  in- 
creased the  discontent.  Its  clauses  were  entirely 
ignored  by  the  Calvinist  Republic  of  Ghent,  which 
pursued  its  own  ruthless  policy  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Ryhove  and  terrorized  the  Catholics.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  Catholic  nobles,  who  com- 
manded some  units  of  the  national  army,  formed 
themselves  into  a  new  party,  the  "  Malcontents," 
and  occupied  Menin  on  October  ist.  Civil  war 


THE  MALCONTENTS  195 

became  more  and  more  inevitable.  Ryhove  called 
the  Prince  Palatine,  John  Casimir,  a  protege"  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  to  his  help,  while  Anjou,  alarmed 
by  the  apparition  of  this  unexpected  rival,  helped 
the  Malcontents  to  reduce  the  Calvinist  Communes 
in  Arras,  Lille  and  Valenciennes. 

William  of  Orange,  who  had  displayed  such 
extraordinary  political  aptitudes  during  the  first 
years  of  the  revolution,  seemed,  since  his  entry 
into  Brussels,  to  have  disregarded  some  essential 
conditions  of  success.  Though  imbued  by  the 
principle  of  national  unity,  he  never  threw  himself 
wholeheartedly  into  the  struggle  and  never  gave 
the  country  the  leadership  it  so  badly  needed. 
He  first  seemed  to  ignore  the  difficulties  ahead, 
owing  to  the  rivalry  of  religious  factions,  and, 
when  these  were  made  clear  to  him,  he  did  not 
take  any  strong  measure  to  enforce  on  the  people 
the  principle  of  liberty  of  conscience  which  he 
so  loudly  proclaimed.  The  recurrence  of  excesses 
and  cruelties  committed  by  the  fanatic  leaders  of 
the  Communes  contributed  to  create  a  widespread 
impression,  among  the  Catholics,  that  he  was 
merely  paying  lip-service  to  them,  while  determined 
to  tolerate  any  disobedience  among  his  own  fol- 
lowers. His  retirement  to  Antwerp,  in  close  con- 
tact with  Holland  and  Zeeland,  but  far  removed 
from  the  Southern  provinces,  was  also  unfavourable 
to  the  maintenance  of  the  Union  under  his  leader- 
ship. Finally,  the  interference  in  national  affairs 
of  such  disreputable  adventurers  as  John  Casimir 
and  Anjou  diminished,  to  a  certain  degree,  the 
reluctance  with  which  the  Catholics  envisaged 
the  possibility  of  treating  with  Spain. 

On  January  6,  1579,  Artois,  Hainault  and  Wai- 


196  BELGIUM 

loon  Flanders  formed  the  "  Confederation  of  Arras," 
which  sanctioned  the  first  Union  of  Brussels — 
that  is  to  say,  the  maintenance  of  Catholicism 
all  over  the  country  ;  and  from  that  time  nego- 
tiations began  between  the  Catholic  bourgeoisie 
and  nobility  and  Farnese.  Had  Orange  proved 
more  active  or  Farnese  less  diplomatic,  the  Union 
might  still  have  been  maintained  even  at  the 
eleventh  hour.  For  nothing  but  religious  passion, 
and  perhaps,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  fear  of  mob 
rule,  prompted  the  Southern  provinces  to  accept 
the  Spanish  offers.  The  States  of  Hainault  had 
declared  that  they  would  not  undertake  any- 
thing contrary  to  the  common  cause,  but  wanted 
only  to  preserve  their  existence,  to  "  maintain 
the  Pacification  of  Ghent  against  an  insolent  and 
barbarian  tyranny  worse  than  the  Spanish  "  and 
"  to  prevent  the  extinction  of  their  holy  faith 
and  religion,  of  the  nobility  and  of  all  order  and 
state."  They  did  not  abandon  any  of  their  old 
claims  against  Spain,  but  they  refused  to  acknow- 
ledge the  social  and  religious  transformation 
which  had  taken  place  in  the  country  since  the 
signature  of  the  Pacification.  The  defenders  of 
the  new  confederation  expressed  the  hope  that 
in  all  towns  the  oppressed  Catholics  would  join 
hands  with  them.  The  Union  of  Arras  ought  to 
be  considered  therefore,  not  as  a  Walloon,  but 
as  a  purely  Catholic  League.  It  confirms  the 
first  Union  of  Brussels,  including  all  its  anti- 
Spanish  stipulations  concerning  the  restoration 
of  the  old  privileges,  the  voting  of  taxes  by  the 
States,  the  defence  of  the  country  by  native 
troops,  the  maintenance  of  the  Catholic  religion 
in  all  the  provinces  being  the  only  common  ground 


UNION  OF  ARRAS  1 97 

on  which  Spaniards  and  Belgians  could  meet. 
It  was,  nevertheless,  a  breach  of  the  Pacification 
of  Ghent,  and  was  destined  to  link  Belgium  with 
Spain  for  many  years  to  come.  It  was  also  a 
definite  and  irretrievable  step  towards  separation. 
It  has  been  suggested  that  the  difference  of 
race  and  languages  might  have  influenced  the 
fateful  decision  of  the  Walloon  provinces.  Such 
an  interpretation  does  not  take  into  account  the 
language  situation  in  the  Low  Countries  at  the 
time.  One  seeks  vainly  for  any  grievance  which 
the  Southern  provinces  might  have  entertained 
on  that  ground.  French  was  used  in  all  the  acts 
of  the  central  Government  and  in  the  deliberations 
of  the  States  General.  Even  the  Prince  of  Orange 
had  kept  the  Burgundian  tradition  and  con- 
sidered French  as  his  mother-tongue.  He  was 
surrounded  and  supported  by  a  great  number  of 
French  Huguenots  and  Walloon  Calvinists.  Owing 
to  their  smaller  population  the  Southern  provinces 
were  rather  over-represented  in  the  States  General, 
where  the  vote  went  by  province  and  not  by 
numbers.  Besides,  we  must  not  overlook  the 
fact  that  the  confederates  represented  themselves 
not  as  dissenters,  but  as  the  true  supporters  of 
the  Act  of  Union,  which  had  been  violated  by  the 
Calvinists.  They  did  not  show  any  separatist 
tendencies  like  Holland  and  Zeeland,  but  opposed 
their  policy  of  Union  to  the  policy  of  the  Prince 
of  Orange.  One  of  their  most  urgent  demands 
was  that  the  Prince  of  the  Netherlands  should 
henceforth  be  of  royal  and  legitimate  blood,  in 
order  to  restore  a  national  policy,  similar  to  that 
followed  during  the  early  years  of  the  reigns  of 
Philip  the  Handsome  and  Charles  V.  All  through 


198  BELGIUM 

the  troubled  period  of  the  last  twenty  years, 
Walloons  and  Flemings  never  ceased  to  empha- 
size their  will  to  live  together.  Their  mottoes 
are,  "  Viribus  unitis  "  ;  "  Belgium  fcederatum  "  ; 
"  Concordia  res  parvae  crescunt  "  ;  and  almost 
every  speech  and  public  manifestation  insists  on 
the  necessity  of  protecting  a  common  "  patrie " 
against  a  common  enemy  through  a  common 
defence.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  principle  of 
unity  was  so  popular  at  the  time  in  the  Southern 
provinces  that  the  confederates  would  have  made 
themselves  thoroughly  unpopular  if  they  had 
dared  to  preach  separation,  and,  on  both  sides, 
it  was  only  by  pretending  to  defend  the  Union 
that  the  extremists,  moved  by  class  hatred  and 
religious  passion,  succeeded  in  destroying  it. 

The  centre  of  Catholic  reaction  might  have 
been  formed  in  any  other  part  of  the  Southern 
provinces  under  similar  circumstances.  The  region 
of  Armentieres  and  Valenciennes  had  been  the 
cradle  of  the  Iconoclast  rebellion,  but  repression 
in  that  quarter  was  far  more  effective  than  in 
any  other.  A  great  proportion  of  the  Walloon 
workers  who  did  not  perish  under  Alba's  rule 
emigrated  to  England.  The  Southern  cities  were 
thus  considerably  depleted  of  their  Calvinist 
element,  and  the  peasants  and  the  bourgeois  out- 
numbered them  far  more  than  in  any  other  part 
of  the  country.  Even  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances the  workers  of  the  towns  exercised  very 
little  influence  on  the  States  of  Hainault  and 
Artois.  In  Hainault  (Valenciennes  and  Tournai 
forming  special  circumscriptions),  Mons  remained 
alone  to  represent  their  interests.  In  Artois, 
Arras,  St.  Omer  and  B^thune  were  the  only 


UNION  OP  UTRECHT  1 99 

important  centres  whose  representatives  could 
oppose  those  of  the  far  more  important  agricul- 
tural districts.  The  question  of  race  and  language 
had  no  more  influence  on  the  attitude  of  the 
Walloon  provinces  than  on  that  of  Holland, 
Zeeland  and  Utrecht.  Both  were  determined  by 
economic,  social  and  religious  conditions  as  well 
as  by  their  strategic  situation. 

The  Confederation  of  Arras  was  proclaimed  on 
January  6,  1579.  On  the  23rd  the  Union  of 
Utrecht  was  constituted,  under  the  same  claim 
of  defending  the  Pacification  of  Ghent.  It  grouped 
around  Holland  and  Zeeland  the  provinces  of 
Utrecht,  Gelder,  Friesland,  Over-Yssel  and  Gron- 
ingen,  together  with  the  most  important  towns 
of  Flanders  and  Brabant :  Ghent,  Ypres,  Bruges, 
Antwerp,  Brussels,  etc.  They  undertook  to  act 
jointly  in  reference  to  peace,  war,  alliances  and 
all  external  matters,  while  retaining  their  local 
autonomy.  The  exercise  of  religion  remained 
free,  with  the  exception  of  Holland  and  Zeeland, 
from  which  Catholicism  was  excluded.  The  Union 
of  Utrecht  was  the  origin  of  the  Republic  of  the 
Seven  United  Provinces.  It  was  entirely  domin- 
ated by  the  particularist  policy  of  Holland  and 
Zeeland,  which,  as  events  developed  more  and 
more  in  favour  of  Farnese  in  the  South,  took 
less  and  less  interest  in  their  Southern  con- 
federates. The  small  forces  at  their  disposal 
rendered  any  offensive  towards  Flanders  and 
Brabant,  which  would  have  provided  the  be- 
leaguered cities  with  food  and  arms,  very  difficult, 
and  the  reopening  of  the  Scheldt,  which  must 
have  taken  place  in  the  event  of  the  integral 
preservation  of  the  Union  of  Utrecht,  would  have 


200  BELGIUM 

reacted  unfavourably  on  the  trade  of  the  Northern 
ports. 

Owing  to  the  defensive  attitude  of  the  North, 
events  moved  rather  slowly  during  the  following 
years.  After  the  fall  of  Maestricht,  which  was 
marked  by  further  massacres  of  the  people  by 
the  Spanish  soldiery,  Farnese,  who  had  staked 
all  on  a  policy  of  conciliation,  gradually  dismissed 
the  Spanish  troops  and  organized  native  units 
with  the  help  of  the  Malcontents.  Now  that  all 
bonds  were  severed  between  the  Union  of  Utrecht 
and  the  crown  of  Spain,  Philip  II  endeavoured 
to  revenge  himself  on  his  opponent  by  putting 
a  price  on  his  head  (1580).  The  apology  written 
by  the  Prince  of  Orange  in  answer  to  Philip's 
accusations,  in  the  shape  of  a  letter  addressed 
to  the  States  General,  is  one  of  the  most  dignified 
pleas  of  such  a  kind  in  history.  Orange  had  no 
difficulty  in  showing  the  sincerity  of  his  motives 
and  his  devotion  to  the  common  weal.  The 
reader  of  this  eloquent  document  will,  however, 
realize  that  its  author  lacked  the  energy  and  self- 
reliance  necessary  to  deal  with  the  desperate 
situation  in  which  the  country  was  placed.  In 
his  eagerness  to  save  the  Belgian  towns  and  to 
safeguard  unity,  in  spite  of  the  unwillingness  of 
Holland  and  Zeeland  to  depart  from  their  ex- 
pectant attitude,  he  concluded  with  the  Duke 
of  Anjou,  on  September  2Qth,  the  treaty  of 
Plessis-lez-Tours,  by  which,  in  exchange  for  military 
help,  the  duke  was  to  receive  the  title  of  here- 
ditary sovereign  of  the  United  Provinces,  under- 
took to  respect  the  rights  of  the  States  General 
and  maintain  the  representatives  of  the  House 
of  Orange-Nassau  as  hereditary  Stadhouders  of 


ALEXANDER  FARNESE  2OI 

Holland,  Zeeland  and  Utrecht.  This  last  clause 
was  introduced  far  more  to  pacify  the  Northerners, 
who  strongly  objected  to  these  negotiations,  than 
to  further  Orange's  personal  ambition.  It  shows 
once  more  the  privileged  situation  occupied  by 
the  three  provinces  and  their  strong  particularist 
tendencies.  The  treaty  of  Plessis-lez-Tours,  which 
was  supposed  to  save  the  Union,  was  destined  to 
give  it  its  death-blow  and  to  strengthen  the 
alliance  between  the  Southern  provinces  and 
Farnese.  By  that  time,  the  central  Government 
in  Antwerp  had  become  purely  nominal.  The 
Northern  provinces  had  ceased  to  send  their 
representatives  and  the  delegates  from  the  South 
could  not  claim  to  represent  the  people,  who  were 
more  and  more  unfavourable  to  their  attitude. 
The  States  General  was  only  used  to  register 
and  sanction  Orange's  decisions.  In  spite  of 
some  opposition,  it  finally  proclaimed,  on  July  26, 
1581,  the  deposition  of  the  king. 

Hostilities  were  at  once  resumed,  Farnese  be- 
sieging Cambrai  and  Tournai,  which  had  not  yet 
joined  the  Confederation.  The  first  town  was 
saved  by  the  intervention  of  the  French  troops 
of  Anjou,  but  the  second  capitulated  on  Novem- 
ber 3rd.  From  that  time,  Farnese  endeavoured 
to  treat  his  enemies  with  the  greatest  clemency. 
He  suppressed  severely  all  acts  of  terrorism  or 
pillage  and  offered  honourable  conditions  to  any 
city  willing  to  surrender,  the  Protestants  being 
free  to  leave  the  town  after  settling  their  affairs 
and  the  local  liberties  remaining  intact.  By 
these  moderate  conditions  and  by  the  loyalty 
with  which  he  kept  to  them,  he  gradually  earned 
the  respect,  if  not  the  sympathy,  of  a  great  number 


2O2  BELGIUM 

of  his  former  opponents,  and  his  attitude  contrasted 
favourably  with  the  vagaries  of  Anjou,  whose 
rule  was,  after  all,  the  only  alternative  offered 
to  the  Southern  provinces  at  the  time.  After  a 
journey  to  England,  where  he  received  a  rebuff 
from  Queen  Elizabeth,  Anjou  was  greeted  with 
great  honours  at  Antwerp  (February  19,  1582). 
During  the  year  which  followed,  he  grew  more 
and  more  impatient  of  the  obstacles  placed  in 
his  way  and  the  restrictions  imposed  on  his 
authority.  He  finally  decided  to  make  a  bid 
for  power,  and,  on  the  night  of  January  16-17, 
1583,  his  soldiers  endeavoured  to  seize  the  gates 
of  Antwerp  and  occupy  the  public  buildings. 
They  were,  however,  defeated  by  the  armed 
citizens,  and  the  duke,  entirely  discredited,  was 
obliged  to  leave  the  country.  This  episode  is 
remembered  as  the  "  French  Fury." 

The  last  hopes  of  reconstituting  the  unity  of 
the  Netherlands  were  ruined  by  the  murder,  on 
July  10,  1584,  at  Delft,  of  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
the  only  statesman  who  had  pursued  this  aim 
with  some  consistency,  in  spite  of  all  his  mistakes. 
This  action  was  as  criminal  as  it  was  senseless. 
The  prince  had  failed  in  his  great  enterprise  of 
uniting  the  Netherlands  against  Spain,  and  no 
efforts  on  his  part  could  have  restored  the  situa- 
tion. Thanks  to  the  Spanish  reinforcements  the 
Confederation  had  allowed  him  to  receive,  Farnese 
was  systematically  blockading  and  besieging  every 
important  Flemish  town.  Already  Dunkirk,  Ypres 
and  Bruges  had  opened  their  gates  to  him  and 
obtained  very  favourable  conditions.  Ghent  itself, 
the  stronghold  of  Calvinism  in  Flanders,  whose 
population  had  distinguished  itself  by  so  many 


FALL   OP  ANTWERP  2C»3 

cruelties  and  excesses  and  which  was  considered 
as  the  arch-enemy  of  the  Malcontents,  benefited 
from  the  same  policy  when  obliged  to  surrender, 
on  September  I7th.  All  the  old  customs  were 
restored,  the  town  was  obliged  to  pay  200,000 
golden  e*cus,  its  hostages  were  pardoned,  and, 
though  the  Protestants  were  not  allowed  to 
celebrate  their  worship  in  public,  they  obtained 
a  delay  of  two  years  before  leaving  the  city. 

At  the  beginning  of  1585  almost  every  town 
had  been  reduced  as  far  as  Malines.  Brussels, 
which  had  vainly  expected  some  help  from  the 
North,  opened  its  gates  to  Farnese  on  March  loth, 
and  the  taking  of  Antwerp,  on  August  i6th, 
closed  the  series  of  operations  which  definitely 
separated  Belgium  from  Holland  and  again  placed 
the  Southern  provinces  under  the  subjection  of 
Spain.  Antwerp  had  been  defended  obstinately 
by  its  burgomaster,  the  Calvinist  pamphleteer, 
Marnix  de  St.  Aldegonde,  who  confidently  hoped 
that  his  Northern  allies  would  create  a  diversion 
and  at  least  prevent  the  Spanish  from  cutting 
off  the  great  port  from  the  sea.  In  the  case  of 
Antwerp,  Holland  and  Zeeland  might  have  inter- 
fered without  so  much  danger,  but  Orange  was 
no  longer  there  to  plead  for  unity  and  the  great 
port  of  the  Southern  provinces  was  abandoned 
to  its  fate. 


THE  fall  of  Antwerp  had  doomed  all  projects  of 
anti-Spanish  unity.  It  had  settled  for  centuries 
to  come  the  fate  of  the  Southern  provinces,  which 
were  henceforth  attached  to  a  foreign  dynasty 
and  administered  as  foreign  possessions.  This 
ultimate  result  was  not,  however,  apparent  at 
once,  and  for  some  years  the  people  entertained 
a  hope  of  a  return  to  the  Burgundian  tradition 
and  to  a  national  policy.  This  period  of  transi- 
tion is  covered  by  the  reign  of  Albert  and  Isabella, 
who  were,  nominally  at  least,  the  sovereigns  of 
the  Low  Countries. 

Before  giving  the  Low  Countries  as  a  dowry 
to  his  daughter  Isabella,  Philip  II  made  several 
attempts  to  break  the  resistance  of  Holland  and 
Zeeland.  Had  Farnese  been  left  to  deal  with 
the  situation  after  the  fall  of  Antwerp,  he  might 
have  succeeded  in  this  difficult  enterprise.  But 
all  the  successes  he  had  obtained  against  Maurice 
of  Nassau  in  Zeeland  Flanders,  Brabant  and  Gelder 
were  jeopardized  by  the  European  policy  of  the 
Spanish  king.  From  August  20,  1585,  Queen 
Elizabeth  had  at  last  openly  allied  herself  with 
the  United  Provinces,  and  the  whole  attention  of 
Philip  was  now  centred  upon  England  and  upon 
the  bold  project  of  forcing  the  entry  of  the  Thames 
with  a  powerful  fleet.  Farnese  was  therefore 
obliged  to  concentrate  most  of  his  troops  near 

204 


UNDKK   THK    Kt'l.K   OK   THK    KIN(iS   OK   STAIN. 


ALBERT  AND  ISABELLA  2O5 

Dunkirk,  in  view  of  the  projected  landing.  The 
complete  failure  of  the  expedition  released  these 
forces,  but  their  absence  from  the  Northern 
provinces  had  already  given  Maurice  of  Nassau 
the  opportunity  of  restoring  the  situation  (1588). 
The  next  year,  instead  of  resuming  the  campaign 
against  the  United  Provinces,  Farnese  was  obliged 
to  fight  in  France  to  support  the  Catholic  League. 
It  was  in  the  course  of  one  of  these  expeditions 
that  he  died  in  Arras,  on  December  3,  1593. 

Philip  was  bound  by  his  promises  to  send  to 
Belgium  a  prince  of  the  blood.  His  choice  of 
Archduke  Ernest,  son  of  Maximilian  II,  was, 
however,  an  unhappy  one,  as  the  weak  prince 
was  entirely  dominated  by  his  Spanish  general, 
Fuentes,  brother-in-law  of  the  Duke  of  Alba. 
The  country  suffered,  at  the  time,  from  the  com- 
bined attacks  of  Maurice  of  Nassau  and  of  Henry  IV 
of  France.  After  the  death  of  Archduke  Ernest, 
Philip  chose  as  governor-general  the  former's 
younger  brother,  Archduke  Albert,  who  had  dis- 
tinguished himself  as  Viceroy  of  Portugal.  He 
arrived  just  in  time,  in  1596,  to  relieve  the  situa- 
tion by  the  taking  of  Calais.  This  success  was 
short-lived,  and  by  the  treaty  of  Vervins  (May  2, 
1597)  Philip  was  obliged  to  restore  Calais  to 
France,  together  with  the  Vermandois  and  part 
of  Picardy.  The  next  year  the  king  negotiated 
the  marriage  of  his  daughter  Isabella  with  Arch- 
duke Albert.  He  died  on  September  13,  1598, 
before  the  marriage  could  be  celebrated.  Had 
Philip  II  come  to  this  last  determination  willingly, 
the  future  of  the  Low  Countries,  at  least  of  the 
Southern  provinces,  might  still  have  been  saved. 
But  this^last  act  of  the  sovereign  whose  rule 


206  BELGIUM 

had  been  so  fatal  to  the  Netherlands  proved  as 
disappointing  as  the  others.  While  he  wrote  in  the 
act  of  cession  that  "  the  greatest  happiness  which 
might  occur  to  a  country  is  to  be  governed  under 
the  eyes  and  in  the  presence  of  its  natural  prince 
and  lord,"  he  almost  annihilated  this  very  wise 
concession  to  Belgian  aspirations  by  adding 
stringent  restrictions.  The  inhabitants  of  the 
Low  Countries  were  not  allowed  to  trade  with 
the  Indies ;  in  the  eventuality  of  the  Infanta 
Isabella  having  no  children,  the  provinces  would 
return  to  the  crown.  Besides,  the  act  contained 
some  secret  clauses  according  to  which  the  new 
sovereigns  undertook  to  obey  all  orders  received 
from  Madrid  and  to  maintain  Spanish  garrisons 
in  the  principal  towns.  The  Spanish  king  reserved 
to  himself  the  right  to  re-annex  the  Low  Countries 
in  any  case,  under  certain  circumstances. 

This  half-hearted  arrangement,  besides  placing 
the  archduke  in  a  false  position  in  his  relations 
with  his  subjects,  deprived  him  of  all  initiative 
in  foreign  matters.  In  fact,  in  spite  of  his  sincere 
attempts  to  shake  off  Spanish  influence,  he  enjoyed 
less  independence  than  some  former  governors, 
like  Margaret  of  Austria. 

These  secret  clauses  were  not  known  to  the 
Belgian  people,  and  they  greeted  their  new 
sovereigns  with  unbounded  enthusiasm.  Their 
journey  from  Luxemburg  to  Brussels,  where  they 
made  their  entry  on  September  15,  1599,  was  a 
triumphal  progress.  After  so  many  years  of  war 
and  foreign  subjection,  the  Belgians  believed  that 
Albert  and  Isabella  would  bring  them  a  much 
needed  peace  and  an  independence  similar  to  that 
which  they  enjoyed  under  Charles  V  and  Philip 


CATHOLIC  REACTION  2O? 

the  Handsome.  They  considered  their  accession 
to  the  throne  as  a  return  to  the  Burgundian  policy 
to  which  they  had  been  so  consistently  loyal  all 
through  their  struggle  against  Spain,  and  whose 
remembrance  had  done  so  much  to  separate  them 
from  the  Northern  provinces.  On  several  occa- 
sions, and  more  especially  at  the  time  of  the  peace 
of  Arras,  they  had  expressed  a  wish  to  be  governed 
by  a  prince  of  the  blood  who  would  be  allowed 
to  act  as  their  independent  sovereign,  and  they 
confidently  imagined  that  this  wish  was  going  to 
be  realized  and  that,  under  her  new  rulers,  the 
country  would  be  at  last  able  to  repair  the  damage 
caused  by  the  war  and  to  restore  her  economic 
prosperity. 

They  knew  that  the  new  regime  implied  the 
exclusion  of  the  Protestants  from  the  Southern 
provinces,  but  this  did  not  cause  much  discontent 
at  the  time.  All  through  the  struggle  the  Catholics 
had  been  in  great  majority  not  only  in  the  country 
but  also  in  the  principal  towns,  with  the  sole 
exception  of  Antwerp,  which  was  the  meeting- 
place  of  many  refugees.  Though  at  the  time  of 
the  Pacification  of  Ghent  a  great  number  of 
citizens  had  adopted  the  new  faith  in  order  to 
avoid  Calvinistic  persecutions,  they  had  given  it 
up  as  soon  as  the  armies  of  Farnese  entered  their 
towns.  The  sincere  Protestants  had  been  obliged 
to  emigrate  to  the  Northern  provinces.  Though 
the  number  of  these  emigrants  has  been  somewhat 
exaggerated,  they  included  a  great  many  intel- 
lectuals, big  traders  and  skilful  artisans,  whose 
loss  was  bound  to  affect  the  Southern  provinces, 
as  their  presence  was  destined  to  benefit  Holland, 
where  the  names  of  the  Bruxellois  Hans  van 


2O8  BELGIUM 

Aerssen,  the  Gantois  Heinsius  and  the  Tournaisiens 
Jacques  and  Issac  Lemaire  are  still  remembered. 

At  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  Albert  and  Isabella 
in  Belgium,  Protestantism  had  practically  dis- 
appeared from  the  towns  and  maintained  itself 
only  in  a  few  remote  villages,  such  as  Dour 
(Hainault),  Hoorebeke,  Estaires  (Flanders)  and 
Hodimont  (Limburg),  where  Protestant  communi- 
ties still  exist  to-day.  Though  the  placards  had 
not  been  abolished,  they  were  no  longer  applied, 
and  all  executions  had  ceased.  Except  in  case  of 
a  public  manifestation  causing  scandal,  the  judges 
did  not  interfere,  and  even  then,  penalties  were 
limited  to  castigation  or  fine. 

Contrary  to  some  popular  conceptions,  Pro- 
testantism was  not  uprooted  by  the  violence  and 
cruelties  of  the  Inquisition  in  the  Southern  pro- 
vinces. On  the  contrary,  these  violences,  under 
the  Duke  of  Alba,  only  contributed  to  extend  its 
influence.  The  Calvinist  excesses  of  1577-79  and 
the  leniency  of  Farnese  did  more  to  counteract 
Calvinist  propaganda  than  the  wholesale  massacres 
organized  by  the  Council  of  Blood.  It  was  against 
these  persecutions,  not  against  the  Catholic  religion, 
that  the  Southern  provinces  fought  throughout 
the  period  of  revolution,  and  the  breaking  off  of 
all  relations  with  the  North  automatically  brought 
to  an  end  the  influence  of  Calvinism. 

The  rapid  success  obtained  by  Farnese's  policy, 
and  the  fact  that  his  successors  had  no  need  to 
have  recourse  to  violent  measures,  shows  that 
Protestantism  was  not  deeply  rooted  in  the  South 
and  that  the  people  would  have  been  only  too 
pleased  to  agree  to  its  exclusion  if  they  had 
obtained  in  exchange  peace  and  independence. 


SIEGE   OF  OSTEND  2O9 

But   the   war  went   on  and   the    archduke   was 
compelled  to  remain  governor  for  Philip  III. 

This  became  apparent  immediately  when,  in 
1600,  the  States  General  claimed  a  voice  in  the 
administration  of  the  country  and  in  the  control 
of  expenditure.  They  met  with  a  curt  refusal 
and  were  obliged  to  agree  to  pay  a  regular  subsidy 
in  place  of  the  old  "  special  grants."  The  same 
year,  Maurice  of  Nassau  invaded  Northern  Flanders 
in  the  hope  of  provoking  a  rising,  but  the  people 
did  not  answer  to  his  call.  The  Spanish,  however, 
were  defeated  at  the  battle  of  Nieuport,  where 
the  archduke  was  severely  wounded.  The  next 
year  began  the  siege  of  Ostend,  which  had  remained 
faithful  to  the  United  Provinces  and  which  was 
easily  able  to  receive  provisions  by  sea.  After 
three  years  of  struggle,  the  town  was  obliged  to 
surrender,  thanks  to  the  skilful  operations  of 
Ambrose  Spinola,  who  was  placed  at  the  head  of 
the  Spanish  army.  After  further  indecisive  opera- 
tions, a  twelve  years'  truce  was  finally  declared, 
on  April  9,  1609,  between  the  United  Provinces 
and  Spain.  Philip  III  virtually  recognized  the 
independence  of  the  Republic  and  even  allowed 
the  Dutch  merchants  to  trade  with  the  West 
Indies,  a  privilege  which  he  had  refused  to  his 
own  subjects  in  Belgium.  The  Southern  provinces 
were  further  sacrificed  by  the  recognition  of  the 
blockade  of  the  Scheldt,  which  remained  closed 
to  all  ships  wishing  to  enter  Antwerp,  to  the  greater 
benefit  of  Dutch  ports. 

As  soon  as  hostilities  were  resumed,  in  1621, 
it  became  apparent  that  Philip  IV  would  not 
support  Belgium  any  more  energetically  than 
his  father  had  done.  Spinola,  who  had  the  whole 

14 


2IO  BELGIUM 

responsibility  of  the  defence  of  the  country  after 
the  death  of  Archduke  Albert  (1621),  succeeded  in 
taking  Breda  (1625).  With  the  Spanish  general's 
disgrace,  owing  to  a  court  intrigue,  the  armies 
of  the  United  Provinces  were  once  more  successful 
in  consolidating  their  situation  in  Northern  Bra- 
bant and  Limburg,  which  they  considered  as  the 
bulwarks  of  their  independence.  Frederick  Henry 
of  Nassau,  who  had  succeeded  his  brother  in  the 
command  of  the  Republic's  armies,  took  Bois-le- 
Duc  in  1629,  and  Venloo,  Ruremonde  and  Maes- 
tricht  in  1632.  He  was  supported,  in  these  last 
operations,  by  Louis  XIII,  who,  prompted  by 
Richelieu,  took  this  opportunity  of  humiliating 
the  Hapsburg  dynasty.  The  Spanish  commander, 
the  Marquis  of  Santa  Cruz,  proved  so  inefficient 
that  some  Belgian  patriots  tried  to  take  matters 
into  their  own  hands  and  to  deliver  their  country 
from  a  foreign  domination  which  was  so  fatal  to 
its  interests.  It  soon  became  clear,  however, 
that  any  step  taken  against  Spain  would  deliver 
Belgium  into  the  hands  of  either  the  French  or 
the  Dutch.  A  first  ill-considered  and  hasty  at- 
tempt was  made  by  Henry,  Count  of  Bergh,  and 
Rene  de  Renesse,  who  opened  secret  negotiations 
at  The  Hague  with  some  Dutch  statesmen  and 
the  French  ambassador.  On  June  i8th  they 
attempted  a  rising  at  Lie*ge,  but  were  obliged  to 
take  refuge  in  the  United  Provinces.  A  more 
serious  conspiracy  was  entered  into,  almost  at 
the  same  time,  by  Count  Egmont  and  Prince 
d'Epinoy,  who,  with  some  followers,  formed  a 
Walloon  League.  Their  aim  was  to  drive  the 
Spaniards  out  of  the  country  with  the  help  of 
the  French  and  to  found  a  "  Belgian  Federative 


THE  STATES   GENERAL  211 

and  Independent  State."  On  being  denounced  to 
the  Government,  the  conspirators  were  obliged 
to  take  flight  before  their  plans  had  matured. 

The  fall  of  Maestricht  had  induced  Isabella  to 
assemble  once  more  the  States  General.  After 
thirty-two  years'  silence,  the  latter  put  forward 
the  same  grievances  concerning  the  restoration  of 
old  privileges  and  the  defence  of  the  country 
by  native  troops,  together  with  new  complaints 
referring  to  the  recent  Spanish  administration. 
The  people  had  become  so  restless  that  the  Marquis 
of  Santa  Cruz  and  Cardinal  de  La  Cueva,  the 
representative  of  Philip  IV  in  the  Low  Countries, 
were  obliged  to  fly  from  Brussels.  Under  pressure 
of  public  opinion,  Isabella  allowed  the  States 
General  to  send  a  deputation  to  The  Hague  to 
negotiate  peace  (September  17,  1632).  The  depu- 
ties left  the  town  amid  great  rejoicings.  With 
undaunted  optimism,  the  Belgians  hoped  that 
where  the  Spanish  armies  had  failed  their  repre- 
sentatives would  be  successful,  and  that  the  new 
negotiations  would  bring  them  at  last  peace  and 
independence,  for  they  realized  that  they  could 
not  obtain  one  without  the  other.  According  to 
a  contemporary,  they  believed  that  they  saw 
"  the  dawn  of  the  day  of  peace  and  tranquillity 
after  such  a  long  and  black  night  of  evil  war." 
But  they  had  reckoned  without  the  exigencies  of 
the  Dutch,  whose  policy  was  even  then  to  secnre 
their  own  safety,  independence  and  prosperity  by 
drastically  sacrificing  the  interests  of  the  Southern 
provinces.  The  delegates  were  met  with  the 
proposal  of  establishing  in  Belgium  a  Catholic 
Federative  Republic  at  the  price  of  heavy  terri- 
torial concessions  both  to  Holland  and  to  the 


212  BELGIUM 

French.  They  could  obtain  independence,  but  on 
such  conditions  that  they  would  never  have  been 
able  to  defend  it. 

The  following  year  (1633),  after  the  death  of 
Isabella,  Philip  IV  recalled  the  Belgian  delegates. 
He  dissolved  the  States  General  a  few  months 
later  (1634).  From  this  time  to  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  during  the  Braban£onne  revo- 
lution, the  representatives  of  the  Belgian  people 
were  no  longer  consulted  and  had  no  share  in  the 
central  Government  of  Belgium. 


CHAPTER    XVIII 

THE  TWELVE  YEARS'   TRUCE 

THE  truce  of  1609-21  was  used  by  the  Govern- 
ment and  the  people  to  restore  as  far  as  possible 
the  economic  prosperity  of  the  Catholic  Nether- 
lands. The  relative  success  with  which  these 
efforts  were  crowned  shows  that  some  energy  was 
left  in  the  country,  in  spite  of  the  blockade 
imposed  on  her  trade  and  of  the  emigration  of 
some  of  her  most  prominent  sons  to  the  United 
Provinces.  It  is  a  common  mistake  to  presume 
that,  from  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  all  economic  and  intellectual  life  left 
the  Southern  provinces  and  was  absorbed  by  the 
Northern.  The  contrast  was  indeed  striking  be- 
tween the  young  republic  which  was  becoming  the 
first  maritime  Power  in  Europe  and  the  mother- 
country  from  which  it  had  been  torn,  and  which 
had  ceased  to  occupy  a  prominent  rank  in  European 
affairs.  A  medal  was  struck,  in  1587,  showing, 
on  one  side,  symbols  of  want  and  misery,  applied 
to  the  Catholic  Netherlands,  and,  on  the  other, 
symbols  of  riches  and  prosperity,  applied  to  the 
Northern  Netherlands,  whilst  the  inscriptions  made 
it  clear  that  these  were  the  punishment  of  the 
impious  and  the  reward  of  the  faithful.  But  a 
careful  study  of  the  period  would  show  that  her 
most  valuable  treasure,  the  stubborn  energy  of 
her  people,  did  not  desert  Belgium  during  this 
critical  period,  and  that  in  a  remarkably  short 


214  BELGIUM 

time  she  succeeded  in  rebuilding  her  home,  or  at 
least  those  parts  of  it  which  she  was  allowed  to 
repair. 

At  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  situa- 
tion, especially  in  Flanders  and  Brabant,  was 
pitiful.  The  dikes  were  pierced,  the  polders 
were  flooded  and  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the 
cultivated  area  left  fallow.  The  amount  of  un- 
claimed land  was  so  large  in  Flanders  that  the 
first  new-comer  was  allowed  to  till  it.  Wild 
beasts  had  invaded  the  country,  and  only  a  mile 
from  Ghent  travellers  were  attacked  by  wolves. 
Bands  of  robbers  infested  the  land,  and  in  1599 
an  order  was  issued  to  fell  all  the  woods  along 
roads  and  canals,  in  order  to  render  travelling 
more  secure.  In  Brabant,  many  villages  had 
lost  more  than  half  their  houses,  the  mills  were 
destroyed  and  the  flocks  scattered.  The  condi- 
tions in  several  of  the  towns  were  still  worse. 
At  Ghent  the  famine  was  so  acute  among  the 
poor  that  they  even  ate  the  garbage  thrown  in 
the  streets.  The  population  of  Antwerp,  from 
100,000  in  the  fifteenth  century,  had  fallen  to 
56,948  in  1645.  Lille,  on  account  of  its  industry, 
and  Brussels,  owing  to  the  presence  of  the  court, 
were  the  only  centres  which  succeeded  in  main- 
taining their  prosperity.  The  excesses  of  the 
foreign  garrisons,  often  ill-paid  and  living  on 
the  population,  added  still  further  to  the  misery. 
The  English  traveller  Overbury,  who  visited 
the  seventeen  provinces  at  the  beginning  of  the 
truce,  declared  that,  as  soon  as  he  had  passed 
the  frontier,  he  found  "  a  Province  distressed 
with  Warre ;  the  people  heartlesse,  and  rather 
repining  against  their  Governours,  then  revengefull 
against  the  Enemies,  the  bravery  of  that  Gentrie 


BLOCKADE  2 1  $ 

which  was  left,  and  the  Industry  of  the  Merchant 
quite  decayed ;  the  Husbandman  labouring  only 
to  live,  without  desire  to  be  rich  to  another's  use  ; 
the  Townes  (whatsoever  concerned  not  the  strength 
of  them)  ruinous ;  And  to  conclude,  the  people 
here  growing  poore  with  lesse  taxes,  then  they 
flourish  with  on  the  States  side." 

The  truce  had  declared  the  re-establishment  of 
commercial  liberty,  but  the  blockade  of  the  coast 
remained  as  stringent  as  ever.  Flushing,  Middle- 
burg  and  Amsterdam  had  inherited  the  transit 
trade  of  Antwerp,  now  completely  abandoned 
by  foreign  merchants.  In  1609  only  two  Genoese 
and  one  merchant  from  Lucca  remained  in  the 
place,  while  the  last  Portuguese  and  English  were 
taking  their  departure.  The  Exchange  was  now 
so  completely  deserted  that,  in  1648,  it  was  used 
as  a  library.  The  docks  were  only  frequented 
by  a  few  Dutch  boats  which  brought  their  cargo 
of  corn  and  took  away  manufactured  articles. 
Any  foreign  boat  laden  for  Antwerp  was  obliged 
to  discharge  its  cargo  in  Zeeland,  the  Dutch  mer- 
chant fleet  monopolizing  the  trade  of  the  Scheldt. 

The  Belgians  could  not  alter  this  situation 
themselves.  They  could  only  appeal  to  Spanish 
help,  and  Spain  was  neither  in  a  situation  nor  in 
a  mood  to  help  them.  Most  of  its  naval  forces 
had  been  destroyed  during  the  Armada  adventure, 
and  neither  the  few  galleys  brought  by  Spinola 
to  Sluis,  before  the  taking  of  this  town  by  Maurice 
of  Nassau  (1604),  nor  the  privateers  from  Dunkirk 
were  able  to  do  more  than  harass  Dutch  trade. 
With  the  defeat  of  the  reorganized  Spanish  fleet 
at  the  Battle  of  the  Downs,  the  last  hope  of  seeing 
the  Dutch  blockade  raised  vanished.  Not  only 
was  the  Lower  Scheldt  firmly  held,  but  enemy 


2l6  BELGIUM 

ships  cruised  permanently  outside  Ostend,  Nieu- 
port  and  Dunkirk.  The  attempts  made  by  the 
Government  to  counter  these  measures  by  the 
closing  of  the  land  frontier  were  equally  doomed 
to  failure,  since  the  Dutch  did  not  depend  in  any 
way  on  their  Belgian  market,  while  the  Belgians 
needed  the  corn  imported  from  the  Northern 
provinces.  The  extraordinary  indifference  of  the 
Spanish  kings  to  the  trade  of  their  Northern  pos- 
sessions is  made  evident  by  the  fact  that,  while 
the  treaty  of  1609  allowed  the  Dutch  to  trade 
with  the  Indies,  it  was  only  thirty-one  years  later 
that  the  Belgians  received  the  same  permission. 

Thwarted  in  this  direction,  the  activity  of  the 
people  and  of  the  Government  concentrated  on 
industry  and  agriculture.  Dikes  were  rebuilt, 
marshes  drained  and  cattle  brought  into  the 
country.  Though  trade  had  been  mined,  the 
raw  material  remained.  The  region  of  Valen- 
ciennes, Tournai  and  Lille  was  the  first  to  recover. 
The  wool  which  could  no  longer  come  through 
Antwerp  was  imported  from  Rouen,  a  staple 
being  fixed  at  St.  Omer.  In  1597  an  enthu- 
siastic contemporary  compared  Lille  to  a  small 
Antwerp.  The  Walloon  provinces  had  been  less 
severely  tried,  and  the  coal  industry,  as  well  as 
the  foundries,  in  the  Meuse  valley  soon  recovered 
their  former  activity.  Tapestry-making  was  also 
resumed  in  Oudenarde  and  Brussels,  copper-working 
in  Malines,  dyeing  in  Antwerp  and  linen-weaving 
in  the  Flemish  country  districts.  But  the  economic 
upheaval  caused  by  the  civil  wars  had  given  the 
death-blow  to  the  decaying  town  industries, 
paralysed  by  the  regime  of  the  corporations.  The 
coppersmiths  of  Dinant  and  Namur  were  now 
completely  ruined,  and  the  cloth  industry  in  Ghent 


NEW  CANALS  217 

had  become  so  insignificant  that,  in  1613,  the 
cloth  hall  of  the  town  was  ceded  to  the  society 
of  the  "  Fencers  of  St.  Michael."  Rural  industry 
and  capitalist  organization,  which  had  made 
such  strides  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  had  now  definitely  superseded  mediaeval 
institutions. 

It  was  on  the  same  lines  that  the  new  industries 
which  developed  in  the  country  at  the  time 
were  organized  by  their  promoters.  The  manu- 
facture of  silk  stuffs  started  in  Antwerp,  while 
the  State  attempted  the  cultivation  of  mulberry- 
trees  to  provide  raw  material.  Similar  attention 
was  devoted  by  Albert  and  Isabella  to  lace-making, 
which  produced  one  of  the  most  important  articles 
of  export.  Glass  furnaces  were  established  in 
Ghent,  Liege  and  Hainault,  paper-works  in  Huy, 
the  manufacture  of  iron  cauldrons  began  in  Liege, 
and  soap  factories  and  distilleries  were  set  up 
in  other  places. 

The  solicitude  of  the  central  Government  was 
not  limited  to  industry.  Roads  and  canals  were 
repaired  all  over  the  country  and  new  important 
public  works  were  undertaken.  Though  the  project 
of  a  Rhine-Scheldt  Canal,  favoured  by  Isabella, 
had  to  be  given  up  owing  to  Dutch  opposition, 
the  canals  from  Bruges  to  Ghent  (1614),  from 
Bruges  to  Ostend  (1624-66)  and  from  Bruges  to 
Ypres  (1635-39)  were  completed  at  this  time. 
Navigation  on  the  Dendre  was  also  improved, 
and  it  was  in  1656  that  the  project  was  made 
to  connect  Brussels  with  the  province  of  Hainault 
by  a  waterway.  This  plan  was  only  realized  a 
century  later. 

The  conditions  prevailing  in  the  Catholic  Low 
Countries  during  the  first  part  of  the  seventeenth 


2l8  BELGIUM 

century  were,  therefore,  on  the  whole,  favourable. 
With  regard  to  world  trade  and  foreign  politics 
the  country  was  entirely  paralysed,  but  the 
activity  of  the  people  and  the  solicitude  of  the 
sovereigns  succeeded  in  realizing  the  economic 
restoration  of  the  country  as  far  as  this  restora- 
tion depended  upon  them.  The  real  economic 
decadence  of  Belgium  did  not  occur  on  the  date 
of  the  separation,  but  fifty  years  later,  during 
the  second  half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  when 
its  exports  were  reduced  by  the  protective  tariffs 
of  France,  when  the  Thirty  Years'  War  ruined 
the  German  market  and  when  Spain  remained 
the  only  country  open  for  its  produce. 

This  relative  prosperity  extended  beyond  the 
twelve  years  of  the  truce.  For,  even  when  hos- 
tilities were  resumed,  they  did  not  deeply  affect 
the  life  of  the  nation,  most  of  the  operations 
being  limited  to  the  frontier.  Some  Belgian 
historians  have  drawn  a  very  flattering  picture 
of  this  period  and  extolled  the  personal  qualities 
of  Albert  and  Isabella.  We  must,  however, 
realize  that,  in  spite  of  the  archduke's  good 
intentions,  the  promises  made  at  the  peace  of 
Arras  were  not  kept,  that  the  States  General  were 
only  twice  assembled  and  that  all  the  political 
guarantees  obtained  by  the  patriots  from  Farnese 
were  disregarded.  Spanish  garrisons  remained  in 
the  country  and  the  representatives  of  the  people 
had  no  control  over  the  expenditure.  In  fact, 
Belgium  was  nearer  to  having  an  absolutist 
monarchical  regime  than  it  had  ever  been  before. 
The  Council  of  State  was  only  assembled  to  con- 
ciliate the  nobility,  whose  loyalty  was  still  further 
encouraged  by  the  granting  of  honours,  such  as 
that  of  the  Order  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  and 


SOCIAL   LIFE  219 

entrusting  to  them  missions  to  foreign  countries. 
The  upper  bourgeoisie,  on  the  other  hand,  were 
largely  permitted  to  enter  the  ranks  of  the  nobility 
by  receiving  titles.  From  1602  to  1638  no  less 
than  forty-one  estates  were  raised  to  the  rank  of 
counties,  marquisates  and  principalities,  and  a 
contemporary  writer  complains  that  "  as  many 
nobles  are  made  now  in  one  year  as  formerly  in 
a  hundred."  It  was  among  these  new  nobles,  or 
would-be  nobles,  who  constituted  a  class  very 
similar  to  that  of  the  English  gentry  of  the  same 
period,  that  the  State  recruited  the  officers  of  its 
army  and  many  officials,  whose  loyalty  was,  of 
course,  ensured. 

No  opposition  was  likely  from  the  ranks  of 
the  clergy.  The  new  bishoprics  founded  by 
Philip  II  had  been  reconstituted  and  the  bishops 
selected  by  the  king  exercised  strict  discipline 
in  their  dioceses.  Besides,  all  religious  orders 
were  now  united  by  the  necessity  of  opposing  a 
common  front  to  the  attacks  of  the  Protestants, 
and  they  felt  that  the  fate  of  the  religion  was 
intimately  bound  up  with  that  of  the  dynasty. 
The  principle  of  the  Divine  right  of  Kings  was 
opposed  to  the  doctrine  of  the  right  of  the 
people  to  choose  their  monarch  propounded  by 
the  Monarchomaques,  and  Roman  Catholics  were, 
by  then,  attached  to  the  monarchy  just  as  Cal- 
vinists  were  attached  to  the  Republic.  The 
experiences  of  the  last  century  prevented  any 
return  to  the  situation  existing  under  Charles  V, 
when,  on  certain  questions,  the  clergy  were  in- 
clined to  side  with  the  people  against  the  prince. 
The  close  alliance  of  Church  and  State  had  now 
become  an  accomplished  fact,  and  was  destined 


22O  BELGIUM 

to  influence  Belgian  politics  right  up  to  modern 
times.  The  loyalty  of  the  people  was  even  stimu- 
lated by  this  alliance,  the  work  of  public  charity 
being  more  and  more  taken  from  the  communal 
authorities  to  be  monopolized  by  the  clergy. 
Attendance  at  church  and,  for  children,  at  cate- 
chism and  Sunday  school  was  encouraged  by 
benevolence,  the  distribution  of  prizes  and  small 
favours,  while  religious  slackness  or  any  revolu- 
tionary tendency  implied  a  loss  of  all  similar 
advantages.  Here,  again,  the  skilful  propaganda 
against  heresy  constituted  a  powerful  weapon  in 
the  hands  of  the  State.  It  must,  in  all  fairness, 
be  added  that  charity  contributed  greatly  to 
relieve  the  misery  so  widespread  during  the  first 
years  of  the  century,  and  that  the  people  were 
genuinely  grateful  to  such  orders  as  the  Recollets 
and  the  Capuchins,  who  resumed  the  work  under- 
taken with  such  enthusiasm  by  the  Minor  Orders 
in  the  previous  centuries.  They  visited  the 
prisoners  and  the  sick,  sheltered  the  insane  and 
the  destitute,  and  even  undertook  such  public 
duties  as  those  of  firemen.  These  efforts  soon 
succeeded  in  obliterating  the  last  traces  of  Cal- 
vinist  and  republican  tendencies,  which  had  never 
succeeded  in  affecting  the  bulk  of  the  population. 
As  a  modern  sovereign,  bent  on  increasing  the 
power  of  the  State,  Archduke  Albert  resented  the 
encroachments  of  the  clergy,  as  Charles  V  had 
done  before  him.  But  he  was  as  powerless  to 
extricate  himself  from  the  circumstances  which 
identified  the  interests  of  his  internal  policy 
with  those  of  the  Church,  as  to  liberate  himself 
from  the  severe  restrictions  with  which  the  Spanish 
regime  paralysed  his  initiative  in  foreign  matters. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

RUBENS 

IF  it  be  true  that  the  spirit  of  a  period  can  best 
be  judged  by  its  intellectual  and  artistic  achieve- 
ments, we  ought  certainly  to  find  in  the  pictures 
of  Rubens  (1577-1640)  an  adequate  expression 
of  the  tendencies  and  aspirations  of  the  Counter 
Reformation  in  Belgium.  Compared  with  the 
religious  pictures  of  the  Van  Eycks  and  of  Van 
der  Weyden,  such  works  as  the  "  Spear  Thrust  " 
(Antwerp  Museum),  "  The  Erection  of  the  Cross  " 
and  the  "  Descent  from  the  Cross "  (Antwerp 
Cathedral)  form  a  complete  contrast.  There  is 
no  trace  left  in  them  of  the  mystic  atmosphere, 
the  sense  of  repose  and  of  the  intense  inner 
tragedy  which  pervade  the  works  of  the  primi- 
tives. Within  a  century,  Flemish  art  is  completely 
transformed.  It  appeals  to  the  senses  more  than 
to  the  soul,  and  finds  greatness  in  the  display 
of  physical  effort  and  majestic  lines  more  than 
in  any  spiritual  fervour.  Two  predominant  in- 
fluences contributed  to  bring  about  this  extra- 
ordinary transformation — the  influence  of  Italy 
and  that  of  the  Catholic  Restoration,  specially 
as  expressed  by  the  Jesuits. 

While,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  Art,  in  the  Low 
Countries,  had  remained  purely  Flemish,  or,  to 
speak  more  accurately,  faithful  to  native  ten- 
dencies, all  through  the  sixteenth  century  the 
attraction  of  the  Italian  Renaissance  became 


222  BELGIUM 

more  and  more  apparent.  We  know  that  Van 
der  Weyden,  in  1450,  and  Josse  van  Ghent,  in 
1468,  visited  Italy,  but  they  went  there  more 
as  teachers  than  as  students.  Their  works  were 
appreciated  by  the  Italian  patrons  for  their 
intense  originality  and  for  their  technical  perfec- 
tion. Jean  Gossaert,  better  known  as  Mabuse  on 
account  of  his  being  born  in  Maubeuge  (c.  1472), 
was  the  first  of  a  numerous  series  of  artists  who, 
all  through  the  sixteenth  century,  considered  the 
imitation  of  the  Italian  art  of  the  period  as 
an  essential  condition  of  success.  Just  as  the 
primitive  National  school  had  been  patronized 
by  the  dukes  of  Burgundy,  the  Italianizants 
were  patronized  by  Charles  V,  Margaret  of  Austria 
and  Mary  of  Hungary.  The  worship  of  Raphael 
and  Michael  Angelo,  so  apparent  in  the  paintings 
of  Van  Orley,  Peter  Pourbus,  J.  Massy s  and  many 
others,  marks  the  transition  between  the  primitive 
tendencies  of  Van  Eyck  and  the  modern  ten- 
dencies of  Rubens.  Both  tendencies  are  sometimes 
aptly  combined  in  their  works,  and  their  portraits, 
especially  those  of  Antoine  Moro,  still  place  the 
Antwerp  school  of  the  sixteenth  century  in  the 
forefront  of  European  Art,  but  the  general  deca- 
dence of  native  inspiration  is  nevertheless  plainly 
apparent.  The  favour  shown  to  these  painters 
by  the  governors  under  Charles  V  and  Philip  II 
is  significant.  Whatever  their  personal  opinions 
may  have  been,  the  Italianizants  adapted  them- 
selves to  the  pomp  displayed  by  the  Monarchists 
and  to  the  modern  spirit  of  Catholicism,  as  opposed 
to  the  Reformation,  whose  critical  and  satiric 
tendencies  were  expressed,  to  a  certain  extent, 
by  realists  like  Jerome  Bosch  (1460-1516)  and 


RUBENS  223 

Peter  Breughel  (c.  1525-69)  who  painted,  at 
the  same  time,  genre  pictures  of  a  popular 
character  and  who  remained  absolutely  free  from 
Italian  influence.  The  same  opposition  which 
divided  society  and  religion  reflected  itself  in  Art. 

Though  he  succeeded  in  transforming  their 
methods,  Rubens  is  nevertheless  the  spiritual 
descendant  of  the  Italianizants.  It  is  from  them 
and  from  his  direct  contact  with  the  works  of 
Michael  Angelo  and  Titian  that  he  inherits  his 
association  of  spiritual  sublimity  with  physical 
strength.  Adopting  without  reserve  Michael  An- 
gelo's  pagan  vision  of  Christianity,  he  transformed 
his  saints  and  apostles  into  powerful  heroes  and 
endeavoured  to  convey  the  awe  and  majesty 
inspired  by  the  Christian  drama  through  an 
imposing  combination  of  forceful  lines  and  striking 
colouring. 

Rubens  was  chosen  by  the  Jesuits  to  decorate 
the  great  church  they  had  erected  in  Antwerp 
in  1620.  Such  a  choice  at  first  appears  strange, 
considering  that,  on  several  occasions,  Rubens 
does  not  seem  to  conform  to  the  strict  rule  which 
the  powerful  brotherhood  succeeded  in  imposing 
on  other  intellectual  activities.  Translated  into 
poetry,  such  works  as  the  "  Rape  of  the  Daughters 
of  Lucippus,"  "  The  Judgment  of  Paris,"  "  The 
Progress  of  Silenus,"  would  suggest  a  style  very 
much  akin  to  that  of  Shakespeare's  Venus  and 
Adonis,  and,  needless  to  say,  would  never  have 
passed  the  Church's  censor.  For  the  reaction 
against  the  moral  license  and  the  intellectual 
liberty  of  the  previous  century  was  by  now  com- 
pleted. Higher  education  was  monopolized  by 
the  reformed  University  of  Louvain  and  the  new 


224  BELGIUM 

University  of  Douai,  and  no  Belgian  was  allowed 
to  study  abroad.  All  traces  of  Humanism  had 
disappeared  from  Louvain,  where  Justus  Lipsius 
remained  as  the  last  representative  of  Renaissance 
tendencies  strongly  tempered  by  orthodoxy. 
Scientific  novelties  were  so  much  distrusted  that 
when,  in  1621,  Van  Helmont  dared  to  make 
public  his  observations  on  animal  magnetism,  he 
was  denounced  as  a  heretic  and  obliged  to  recant. 
For  fear  of  exposing  themselves  to  similar  perse- 
cutions, the  historians  of  the  time  confined  them- 
selves to  the  study  of  national  antiquities.  The 
theatre  was  confined  to  the  representation  of 
conventional  Passions  and  Mysteries  and  to  the 
plays  produced  every  year  by  the  Jesuits  in  their 
schools. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  tolerance  and  even 
the  encouragement  granted,  at  the  time,  to  an 
exuberant  display  of  forms  and  colours  and  to 
an  overloaded  ornamental  architecture,  were  not 
opposed  to  the  Jesuit  methods.  They  were  deter- 
mined, by  all  means  at  their  disposal,  to  transform 
the  Low  Countries  into  an  advance  citadel  of 
Roman  Catholicism.  Their  policy  was  far  more 
positive  than  negative.  They  were  far  more 
bent  on  bringing  to  the  Church  new  converts 
and  stimulating  the  zeal  of  their  flock  than  on 
eradicating  Protestantism.  They  thought  that 
the  only  means  to  obtain  such  a  result  was  to 
attract  the  people  by  pleasant  surroundings  and 
not  to  rebuke  them  by  morose  asceticism.  They 
were  the  first  to  introduce  dancing,  music  and 
games  into  their  colleges.  They  organized  pro- 
cessions and  sacred  pageants.  They  surrounded 
the  first  solemn  communion  with  a  new  ceremonial. 


Ph.B. 


PULPIT  OF  SAINTE  GUDULE,  BRUSSELS  (EIGHTEENTH   CENTURY). 


THE  JESUITS  22$ 

They  stimulated  emulation  and  showered  prizes 
on  all  those  who  distinguished  themselves. 

Society  was  merely  for  them  a  larger  school 
in  which  they  used  the  same  means  in  order  to 
consolidate  their  position.  During  the  first  years 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  an  enormous  number 
of  new  churches  were  built.  Never  had  architects 
been  so  busy  since  the  time  of  Philip  the  Good. 
The  church  of  Douai,  erected  in  1583,  was  a 
replica  of  the  Gesu  in  Rome,  and  the  general 
adoption  of  the  Italian  "  barocco  "  by  the  Jesuits 
has  encouraged  the  idea,  in  modern  times,  that 
there  really  existed  a  Jesuit  type  of  architecture. 
The  flowery  ornaments  on  the  fasades  of  these 
churches,  their  columns,  gilded  torches,  elaborate 
and  heavy  designs,  cannot  be  compared  to 
Rubens' s  masterpieces,  but,  from  the  point  of  view 
of  propaganda,  which  was  the  only  point  of  view 
that  mattered,  the  glorious  paintings  of  the  Ant- 
werp master  fulfilled  the  same  purpose.  They 
rendered  religion  attractive  to  the  masses,  they 
combined  with  music  and  incense  to  fill  the  con- 
gregation with  a  sacred  awe  conducive  to  faith. 

It  ought  not  to  be  assumed,  however,  that  the 
painters  of  the  period  enjoyed  complete  liberty 
of  expression.  If  the  Church  showed  great  toler- 
ance with  regard  to  the  choice  of  certain  profane 
subjects,  Christian  art  was  directly  influenced  by 
the  reforms  promulgated  by  the  Council  of  Trent. 
In  a  pamphlet  published  in  1570  by  Jean  Molanus, 
De  Picturis  et  Imaginibus  sacris,  the  new  rules 
are  strictly  set  forth.  All  subjects  inspired  by 
the  apocryphal  books  and  popular  legends  are 
proscribed,  and  even  such  details  of  treatment 
as  the  representation  of  St.  Joseph  as  an  old  man 

15 


226  BELGIUM 

and  the  removal  of  the  lily  from  the  hand  of  the 
Angel  of  the  Annunciation  to  a  vase  are  severely 
criticized.  The  censors  of  the  period  would 
have  given  short  shrift  to  Memling's  interpreta- 
tion of  St.  Ursula's  story  and  all  similar  legends 
which  could  not  be  upheld  by  the  authority  of 
the  A  eta  Sanctorum.  This  remarkable  historical 
work,  initiated  by  Bollandus  at  the  time,  endea- 
voured to  weed  out  from  the  lives  of  the  saints 
most  of  the  popular  anecdotes  which  had  in- 
spired mediaeval  artists.  All  episodes  connected 
with  the  birth  and  marriage  of  the  Virgin  dis- 
appeared, at  the  same  time,  from  the  churches. 
The  Jesuits  were  stern  rationalists,  and,  con- 
sidering themselves  as  the  defenders  of  a  besieged 
fortress,  were  determined  not  to  lay  the  Church 
open  to  attack  and  to  remove  any  cause  for 
criticism.  Their  point  of  view  was  entirely  con- 
trary to  that  of  the  mediaeval  artists.  For  the 
latter,  Art  sprang  naturally  from  a  fervent  mysti- 
cism, just  as  flowers  spring  from  the  soil.  Its 
intimate  faith  does  not  need  any  effort,  any 
artifices,  to  make  itself  apparent ;  even  secondary 
works  retain  a  religious  value.  The  sacred  pictures 
of  the  seventeenth  century  appear,  in  contrast, 
as  a  gigantic  and  wonderful  piece  of  religious 
advertisement.  Based  on  purely  pagan  motives, 
they  succeed  in  capturing  the  wandering  attention 
on  some  sacred  subject,  by  overloading  it  with 
a  luxury  of  ornament  and  an  exuberance  of 
gesture  unknown  to  the  primitives.  The  treatment 
may  be  free,  it  is  even  necessary  that  it  should 
be  so  in  order  to  flatter  the  taste  of  the  period, 
but  the  repertory  of  subjects  becomes  more  and 
more  limited.  Brilliant  colours,  floating  draperies, 


INTELLECTUAL  LIFE  22/ 

powerful  draughtsmanship,  become  the  obedient 
servants  of  a  stern  and  dogmatic  mind.  The  pagans 
exalted  sensuousness,  the  mediaeval  artists  magni- 
fied faith,  the  artists  of  the  Counter- Reformation 
used  all  the  means  of  the  former  to  reach  the 
aim  of  the  latter  "  ad  majorem  Dei  gloriam." 

The  result  of  this  intellectual  and  artistic 
movement  was  stupendous.  While  the  Recollets 
and  Capuchins,  Carmelites,  Brigittines,  Ursulines 
and  Clarisses  worked  among  the  poor,  the  Jesuits 
succeeded  in  capturing  the  upper  classes.  All 
the  children  of  the  rich  bourgeoisie  and  the 
nobility  attended  their  schools  and  colleges,  and, 
in  1626,  the  number  of  pupils  with  their 
parents  who  had  entered  the  Congregation  of 
the  Virgin  reached  13,727.  One  might  say  that 
the  Jesuits  had  taken  intellectual  power  from  the 
hands  of  the  laity  in  order  to  wield  it  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Church.  From  their  ranks  rose 
all  the  most  prominent  men  of  the  period,  philo- 
sophers like  Lessius,  economists  like  Scribani, 
historians  like  the  Bollandists,  physicians,  mathe- 
maticians, architects  and  painters. 

The  direct  result  of  this  clericalization  of  Art 
and  Letters  was  to  thwart  the  progress  realized 
during  the  last  century  by  the  vulgar  tongue. 
Latin  replaced  French  in  philosophy,  history  and 
science,  and  even  in  literature  the  elite  preferred 
to  express  themselves  in  the  classic  tongue. 
Flemish  was  completely  disdained.  According  to 
Geulinx,  "  it  ought  not  to  have  been  heard  outside 
the  kitchen  or  the  inn."  This  period,  which  from 
the  artistic  point  of  view  was  marked  by  such 
bold  innovations,  favoured  a  reaction  towards 
the  mediaeval  use  of  Latin  in  preference  to  the 


228  BELGIUM 

vulgar  tongue.  But  Latin  was  not  read  by  the 
people. 

Rubens  was  not  only  the  most  successful 
religious  painter  of  his  time,  he  was  also  the 
favourite  and  ambassador  of  Albert  and  Isabella, 
the  great  courtier  and  portrait  painter  and  the 
decorator  of  the  Luxemburg  Palace  in  Paris.  He 
not  only  paid  court  to  the  Church,  he  also  placed 
his  talent  at  the  service  of  the  sovereigns  and 
nobles  of  his  day,  and  certainly  the  encouragement 
given  by  the  latter  to  pagan  subjects  may  account 
for  the  leniency  of  the  Church  towards  them. 
In  1636  the  King  of  Spain  ordered  from  the 
Antwerp  master  fifty-six  pictures  illustrating  the 
Metamorphoses  of  Ovid,  destined  for  his  hunting 
lodge  near  Madrid.  Rubens's  pupil,  Van  Dyck, 
was  the  accomplished  type  of  the  court  painter 
of  the  period.  His  portraits  of  Charles  I  and  of 
his  children  and  of  Lord  John  and  Lord  Bernard 
Stewart  are  among  the  best-known  examples  of 
the  work  he  accomplished  in  England. 

There  is  a  third  aspect  of  Rubens  which  cannot 
be  ignored  and  through  which  he  may  be  asso- 
ciated with  the  realist  artists  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  who  succeeded  in  preserving  a  purely 
Flemish  and  popular  tradition  in  spite  of  Italian 
and  monarchist  influences.  The  "  Kermesse  "  of 
the  Louvre  and  the  wonderful  landscapes  dis- 
seminated in  so  many  European  museums  are 
the  best  proofs  that  the  master  did  not  lose  touch 
with  his  native  land  and  with  the  people  who 
tilled  it.  This  special  aspect  of  his  art  is  even 
more  prominent  in  the  works  of  his  follower, 
Jacques  Jordaens  (1593-1678).  It  is  significant 
that  the  latter  became  a  Calvinist  in  1655.  While 


BREUGHEL   AND  JORDAENS  22Q 

Rubens  and  Van  Dyck  represent  mostly  the 
aristocratic  and  clerical  side  of  the  Flemish  art 
of  the  period,  Jordaens  appears  as  the  direct 
descendant  of  Jerome  Bosch  and  Peter  Breughel. 
Breughel's  satires,  such  as  the  "  Fight  between 
the  Lean  and  the  Fat "  and  the  "  Triumph  of 
Death,"  show  plainly  that  his  sympathies  were 
certainly  not  on  the  side  of  Spanish  oppression. 
His  interpretation  of  the  "  Massacre  of  the  In- 
nocents "  (Imperial  Museum,  Vienna)  is  nothing 
but  a  tragic  description  of  a  raid  of  Spanish 
soldiery  on  a  Flemish  village.  Quite  apart  from 
their  extraordinary  suggestiveness,  these  works, 
like  most  of  Breughel's  drawings  and  paintings, 
constitute  admirable  illustrations  of  the  popular 
life  of  the  Low  Countries  during  the  religious 
wars.  It  must  never  be  forgotten  that  all  through 
the  sixteenth  century,  starting  from  Quentin 
Matsys,  the  founder  of  the  Antwerp  school,  the 
popular  and  Flemish  tradition  remains  distinct 
from  the  flowery  style  of  the  Italianizants.  Though 
it  is  impossible  to  divide  the  two  groups  of  artists 
among  the  two  political  and  religious  tendencies  in 
conflict,  the  works  of  Breughel  and  Jordaens  may 
be  considered  as  a  necessary  counterpart  to  those 
of  Frans  Floris  and  Rubens  if  we  wish  to  form  a 
complete  idea  of  the  civilization  of  the  period. 


CHAPTER   XX 

POLITICAL  DECADENCE   UNDER   SPAIN 

THOUGH  the  seven  Northern  provinces  could  be 
considered  as  definitely  lost  after  the  failure  of 
Farnese's  last  attempt  to  reconquer  them,  the 
Spanish  Netherlands  still  included,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  three  duchies 
of  Brabant,  Limburg  (with  its  dependencies  beyond 
the  Meuse,  Daelhem,  Fauquemont  and  Rolduc), 
Luxemburg  and  a  small  part  of  Gelder  with 
Ruremonde ;  four  counties,  Flanders,  Artois, 
Hainault  and  Namur,  and  the  two  seigneuries 
of  Malines  and  Tournai.  When,  in  1715,  the 
Southern  Netherlands  passed  under  Austrian 
sovereignty,  they  had  lost  Maestricht  and  part  of 
Northern  Limburg,  Northern  Brabant,  Zeeland 
Flanders,  Walloon  Flanders  and  Artois,  and  various 
small  enclaves,  most  of  their  fortified  towns  being 
further  obliged  to  receive  foreign  garrisons,  main- 
tained at  the  expense  of  the  State.  Antwerp 
remained  closed,  and  the  efforts  made  during  the 
first  years  of  the  seventeenth  century  to  restore 
the  economic  situation  through  industrial  and 
agricultural  activity  were  practically  annihilated 
by  incessant  wars. 

This  situation  was  evidently  caused  by  the 
weakness  of  Spain,  which,  though  clinging  to  its 
Northern  possessions,  did  not  possess  the  means 
to  defend  them  against  the  ambition  of  European 
Powers,  more  especially  France.  It  was  due  also 

330 


WEAKNESS   OF  BELGIUM 

to  the  policy  of  the  United  Provinces,  who  con- 
sidered Belgium  as  a  mere  buffer  State  which 
they  could  use  for  their  own  protection  and  whose 
ruin,  through  the  closing  of  Antwerp,  was  one 
of  the  conditions  of  their  own  prosperity.  Up 
to  the  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession,  England 
played  a  less  prominent  part  in  the  various  con- 
flicts affecting  the  Southern  Netherlands,  but  she 
succeeded,  on  several  occasions,  in  checking  the 
annexationist  projects  of  France,  whose  presence 
along  the  Belgian  coast  was  a  far  greater  danger 
than  that  of  a  weak  and  impoverished  Spain. 

There  is  no  better  illustration  of  the  paramount 
importance  of  a  strong  and  independent  Belgium 
to  the  peace  of  Europe  than  the  series  of  wars 
which  followed  each  other  in  such  rapid  succes- 
sion during  the  seventeenth  century.  It  is  true 
that,  in  nearly  every  instance,  the  new  situation 
created  in  the  Netherlands  cannot  be  given  as 
the  direct  cause  of  these  various  conflicts,  result- 
ing from  territorial  ambitions,  dynastic  suscepti- 
bilities and  even,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Thirty 
Years'  War,  from  circumstances  quite  independent 
of  those  prevalent  on  the  Meuse  and  the  Scheldt. 
But,  whatever  the  nominal  cause  of  these  wars 
may  have  been,  they  certainly  acquired  a  more 
widespread  character  from  the  fact  that  the 
Spanish  Netherlands  lay  as  an  easy  prey  at  the 
mercy  of  the  invader  and  constituted  a  kind  of 
open  arena  where  European  armies  could  meet 
and  carry  on  their  contests  on  enemy  ground. 
It  is  not  a  mere  chance  that  the  separation  of 
the  Southern  and  Northern  provinces  coincided 
with  a  remarkable  recrudescence  of  the  warlike 
spirit  all  over  Europe.  The  contrast  between 


232  BELGIUM 

the  fifteenth  century,  when  the  Seventeen  Pro- 
vinces constituted  a  powerful  State  under  the 
dukes  of  Burgundy,  and  the  seventeenth,  when 
the  greater  part  of  it  was  ruined  and  undefended, 
at  the  mercy  of  foreign  invasion,  is  particularly 
enlightening.  All  through  the  Middle  Ages  first 
Flanders,  later  the  Burgundian  Netherlands,  had 
exerted  their  sobering  and  regulating  influence 
between  France,  on  one  side,  and  England  or 
Germany  on  the  other.  The  Belgian  princes 
were  directly  interested  in  maintaining  peace, 
and,  in  most  cases,  only  went  to  war  when 
their  independence,  and  incidentally  the  peace  of 
Europe,  was  threatened  by  the  increasing  ambition 
of  one  of  their  neighbours.  The  system  of 
alliances  concluded  with  this  object  could  not 
possibly  prevent  conflicts,  but  it  certainly  limited 
their  scope  and  preserved  Europe  from  general 
conflagration,  the  combination  of  the  Netherlands 
with  one  Power  being  usually  enough  to  keep 
a  third  Power  in  order.  The  weakening  of 
the  Southern  provinces  under  Spanish  rule  thus 
caused  an  irreparable  gap  in  the  most  sensitive 
and  dangerous  spot  on  the  political  map  of 
Europe.  Triple  and  Quadruple  Alliances  were 
entered  into  and  inaugurated  the  system  of  Grand 
Alliances  which  was  henceforth  to  characterize 
almost  every  European  conflict  and  increase  on 
such  a  large  scale  the  numbers  of  opposed  forces 
and  the  devastations  accompanying  their  warlike 
operations. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  United  Provinces 
might  have  played  the  part  formerly  filled  by 
the  Burgundian  Netherlands  and  the  county  of 
Flanders,  but,  in  spite  of  their  amazing  maritime 


DUTCH  POLICY  233 

expansion  and  of  the  prosperity  of  their  trade, 
they  did  not  enjoy  the  same  military  prestige 
on  land.  Besides,  they  did  not  care  to  undertake 
such  a  heavy  responsibility,  and  pursued  most  of 
the  time  a  narrowly  self-centred  policy.  Though 
they  had  some  excellent  opportunities  of  recon- 
stituting the  unity  of  the  Low  Countries,  and 
though  some  of  their  statesmen  contemplated 
such  a  step,  the  United  Provinces  never  embarked 
upon  a  definite  policy  of  reconstitution.  They 
played  for  safety  first  and  were  far  too  wary  to 
sacrifice  solid  material  advantages  for  a  proble- 
matic European  prestige.  Unification  would  have 
meant  the  reopening  of  the  Scheldt  and  the 
resurrection  of  Antwerp,  whose  rivalry  was  always 
dreaded  by  the  Northern  ports.  It  would  have 
meant  the  admission  of  a  far  more  numerous 
population  on  an  equal  footing,  with  religious 
freedom,  to  the  privileges  of  the  Republic.  It 
would  have  implied  the  sacrifice  of  an  extra- 
ordinarily strong  strategic  situation  and  the  risks 
involved  by  the  defence  of  weak  and  extended 
frontiers.  The  maintenance  of  a  weak  buffer 
State,  as  a  glacis  against  any  attacks  from  the 
South,  seemed  far  more  advantageous,  especially 
if  its  fortified  positions  were  garrisoned  with 
Dutch  forces.  It  gave  all  the  same  strategic 
advantages  which  unification  might  have  given, 
without  any  of  its  risks  and  inconveniences.  "  It 
is  far  better,"  wrote  a  Dutch  Grand  Pensioner,  at 
the  time,  "  to  defend  oneself  in  Brussels  or  Ant- 
werp than  in  Breda  or  Dordrecht."  Such  an 
attitude  was  perfectly  justified  as  long  as  Holland 
did  not  claim  the  advantages  attached  to  the 
position  of  a  moderating  central  Power  and 


234  BELGIUM 

ask  for  the  reward  without  having  taken  the 
risks. 

We  have  seen  how,  in  1632,  the  delegates  of 
the  States  General  were  met  at  The  Hague  with 
the  proposal  of  the  creation  of  a  Federative 
Catholic  Republic  under  the  tutelage  of  France 
and  Holland.  This  project,  already  entertained 
in  1602  by  the  Grand  Pensioner  Oldenbarneveldt, 
was  very  much  favoured  by  Cardinal  Richelieu, 
who,  in  1634,  signed  a  secret  convention  with 
the  United  Provinces,  according  to  which  such  a 
proposal  would  be  made  to  the  people  of  the 
Southern  Netherlands.  In  the  event  of  their 
refusing  this  arrangement,  the  country  would 
be  divided  among  the  two  allies,  following  a  line 
running  from  Blankenberghe  to  Luxemburg.  If 
we  remember  the  attitude  of  the  Belgians  at  the 
time  of  the  Conspiracy  of  the  Nobles,  led  by  the 
Count  of  Bergh  (1632),  such  a  refusal  must  have 
been  anticipated,  so  that  the  proposal  amounted 
really  to  a  project  of  partition.  This  project 
would  anyhow  have  been  opposed  by  England, 
since,  according  to  the  Dutch  diplomat  Grotius, 
Charles  I  "  would  not  admit "  the  presence  of 
France  on  the  Flemish  coast. 

In  1635  a  formal  and  public  alliance  was 
declared  between  the  United  Provinces  and  France, 
and  war  broke  out  once  more  between  Spain  and 
the  confederates.  The  operations  which  followed 
form  part  of  the  fourth  phase  of  the  Thirty  Years' 
War,  but  we  are  only  concerned  here  with  their 
result  with  regard  to  the  Netherlands.  While 
the  Dutch  took  Breda  and  concentrated  near 
Maestricht,  the  French  advanced  through  the 
Southern  provinces  towards  Limburg,  where  they 


RICHELIEU  AND  MAZAR1N  235 

made  their  junction  with  their  allies  to  proceed 
against  Brussels.  The  Belgians  had  not  answered 
the  Franco-Batavian  manifesto,  inviting  them  to 
rebel,  and  gave  whatever  help  they  could  to 
their  Spanish  governor,  the  Cardinal  Infant  Ferdi- 
nand. Students  co-operated  in  the  defence  of 
Louvain,  and  the  people  showed  the  greatest 
loyalty  during  the  campaign.  They  knew  by 
now  that  they  had  very  little  good  to  expect 
from  a  Franco-Dutch  protectorate  and  that  even 
the  shadow  of  independence  they  were  allowed 
to  preserve  under  the  Spanish  regime  would  be 
taken  from  them.  Powerless  to  reconquer  full 
independence,  they  preferred  a  weak  rule  which 
secured  for  them  at  least  religious  liberty  to  the 
strong  rule  of  those  whom  they  considered  as 
foreigners  and  as  enemies  to  their  country. 

Operations  were  pursued  with  alternating  success 
until  1642,  when  Mazarin  succeeded  Richelieu  as 
French  Prime  Minister.  Mazarin  favoured  a  more 
radical  solution  of  the  Netherlands  difficulty.  He 
persuaded  Louis  XIV  that  the  possession  of  the 
left  bank  of  the  Rhine  was  essential  to  the  safety 
of  the  kingdom,  and  aimed  at  the  total  annexation 
of  the  Belgian  Provinces.  The  negotiations  begun 
in  that  direction  met  with  Dutch  and  English 
opposition  and  the  curt  refusal  of  Spain  to 
renounce  her  rights  on  her  Northern  possessions. 
This  new  attitude  of  France  brought  about  a 
rapprochement  between  Spain  and  the  United 
Provinces,  who  began  to  fear  Louis  XIV's  ambitious 
schemes.  The  two  countries  settled  their  diffi- 
culties by  the  treaty  of  Miinster  (1648),  while, 
after  a  new  series  of  defeats,  culminating,  in  1658, 
in  the  Battle  of  the  Dunes,  won  by  Turenne 


236  BELGIUM 

against  Don  Juan,  Philip  IV  was  finally  obliged 
to  submit  to  the  treaty  of  the  Pyrenees  (1659). 

The  Dutch  plenipotentiaries  had  practically  a 
free  hand  in  the  settling  of  the  Miinster  treaty. 
They  acquired  all  the  territories  they  claimed, 
and  they  only  claimed  the  territories  they  wanted 
and  which  they  already  held.  Their  choice  was 
dictated  neither  by  territorial  ambition  nor  by 
the  desire  to  realize  the  unity  of  the  Netherlands. 
They  obtained,  of  course,  the  official  recognition 
of  their  full  independence  and  the  maintenance  of 
the  closing  of  the  Scheldt  and  of  its  dependencies. 
The  annexation  of  Zeeland  Flanders,  henceforth 
known  as  Flanders  of  the  States,  ensured  their 
position  on  the  left  bank  of  the  stream,  that  of 
North  Brabant  with  Bergen-op-Zoom,  Breda  and 
Bois-le-Duc,  ensured  the  protection  of  their  central 
provinces,  while  Maestricht,  together  with  Fauque- 
mont,  Daelhem  and  Rolduc,  secured  their  posi- 
tion on  the  Meuse.  These  were  purely  strategic 
annexations,  prompted  by  strategic  motives  and 
by  the  desire  to  keep  a  firm  hold  on  some  key 
positions  from  which  the  United  Provinces  could 
check  any  attack,  either  from  Spain  or  from 
France,  with  the  least  effort. 

By  the  treaty  of  the  Pyrenees  Philip  IV  aban- 
doned to  France  the  whole  of  Artois  and  a  series 
of  fortified  positions  in  Southern  Flanders,  Hainault, 
Namur  and  Luxemburg.  These  latter  demands 
were  prompted  by  an  evident  desire  to  extend 
French  territory  towards  the  Netherlands  and  to 
obtain  a  position  which  should  afford  a  good 
starting-point  for  such  extension. 

The  treaties  of  Miinster  and  of  the  Pyrenees 
had,  broadly  speaking,  determined  the  new  status 


PROJECTS   OF  PARTITION 

of  the  Southern  provinces,  considerably  dimin- 
ished to  comply  with  the  wishes  and  the  interests 
of  the  United  Provinces  and  of  France.  This 
status  was  not  considerably  altered  by  the  suc- 
cession of  wars  which  took  place  during  the 
second  half  of  the  seventeenth  century  and  the 
early  years  of  the  eighteenth,  and  which  ended 
by  the  substitution  of  Austrian  for  Spanish  rule. 
It  was,  however,  considered  as  provisional  by 
Louis  XIV,  whose  territorial  ambitions  extended 
far  beyond  Walloon  Flanders,  and,  before  obtain- 
ing the  right  to  live  within  her  new  frontiers, 
Belgium  had  still  to  undergo  the  ordeal  of  five 
devastating  wars. 

At  the  time  of  the  death  of  Philip  IV  (1665), 
the  Southern  provinces,  impoverished  and  inade- 
quately defended,  were  an  easy  prey  to  foreign 
territorial  greed.  The  Dutch  Grand  Pensioner  De 
Witt  returned  to  the  old  plan  of  1634,  whereby 
Holland  and  France  should  agree  to  the  constitu- 
tion of  a  protected  buffer  State,  and,  in  case  this 
proposal  should  not  meet  with  the  support  of 
the  States,  to  a  partition  along  a  line  extending 
from  Ostend  to  Maestricht.  Holland  and  England, 
however,  were  soon  to  realize  that  no  compromise 
was  possible  with  France  and  that  their  safety 
required  prompt  joint  action. 

The  Roi-Soleil  would  not  agree  to  recognize 
the  right  of  the  new  King  of  Spain,  Charles  II, 
to  the  Southern  Netherlands.  A  few  years  before, 
King  Louis  had  married  Maria  Theresa,  the  eldest 
daughter  of  Philip  IV,  and  his  legal  advisers  made 
a  pretext  of  the  non-payment  of  her  dowry  and  of 
a  custom  prevalent  in  some  parts  of  Brabant, 
according  to  which  the  children  of  a  first  marriage 


238  BELGIUM 

were  favoured  ("  devolution  "),  to  claim  this  part 
of  the  Spanish  succession.  The  King's  troops 
entered  the  Netherlands  in  1667,  without  meeting 
with  any  serious  opposition,  and  hostilities  only 
came  to  an  end  when,  after  concluding  a  hasty 
peace  and  enlisting  the  support  of  Sweden,  the 
United  Provinces  and  England  concluded  the 
Triple  Alliance  (1668).  By  the  treaty  of  Aix-la- 
Chapelle,  France  nevertheless  obtained  the  fortified 
towns  of  Bergues,  Fumes,  Armentieres,  Courtrai, 
Lille,  Oudenarde,  Tournai,  Ath,  Douai,  Binche 
and  Charleroi,  strengthening  her  position  still 
further  on  the  borders  of  Walloon  Flanders  and 
in  Hainault.  The  allies  understood  by  then  that 
Louis's  ambitions  threatened  their  very  existence. 
When  the  French  resumed  hostilities,  four  years 
later,  a  revolution  took  place  in  Holland  which 
overthrew  De  Witt  in  favour  of  William  III  of 
Orange,  who  was  hereafter  the  strongest  opponent 
of  French  policy.  Charles  II  of  England  took  an 
equally  strong  attitude,  following  the  traditional 
English  policy  of  not  allowing  the  French  to  obtain 
a  hold  on  the  Flemish  coast.  Addressing  Parlia- 
ment, a  few  years  later,  he  declared  that  England 
could  not  admit  "  that  even  one  town  like  Ostend 
should  fall  into  French  hands,  and  could  not 
tolerate  that  even  only  forty  French  soldiers 
should  occupy  such  a  position,  just  opposite  the 
mouth  of  the  Thames."  William  had  therefore 
no  difficulty  in  constituting  a  powerful  alliance, 
including,  besides  the  United  Provinces  and 
England,  Spain,  Germany  and  Denmark.  In  face 
of  such  opposition,  Louis  was  finally  compelled 
to  sign  the  treaty  of  Nymegen,  which  restored  to 
Spain  some  of  the  advanced  positions  obtained  by 


THE   AUGSBERG  LEAGUE  239 

the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  but  confirmed  the 
loss  of  Walloon  Flanders  and  Southern  Hainault. 

After  a  few  years,  however,  seeing  the  alliance 
broken  off  and  his  enemies  otherwise  engaged, 
the  King  of  France  assumed  a  more  and  more 
aggressive  attitude  and  encroached  so  much  on 
the  rights  of  Spain  that  Charles  II  was  finally 
compelled  to  resist  his  pretensions.  Luxemburg 
was  the  only  town  which  offered  any  serious 
resistance ;  everywhere  else  French  armies  pursued 
their  methods  of  terrorism,  bombarded  the  towns 
and  ravaged  the  country.  The  Truce  of  Ratisbon, 
concluded  in  1684  for  twenty  years,  added  Chimay, 
Beaumont  and  Luxemburg  to  the  French  spoils. 

William  III,  alarmed  by  this  progress,  succeeded 
in  enlisting  the  support  of  the  Emperor  Leopold  I, 
the  King  of  Spain,  the  King  of  Sweden  and  the 
Duke  of  Savoy.  A  new  League  against  France 
was  founded  in  Augsburg  (1686).  When,  two 
years  later,  William  succeeded  in  supplanting 
James  II  on  the  throne  of  England,  this  country 
entered  the  League  and  a  new  conflict  became 
inevitable.  Belgium  was  not  directly  interested 
in  it,  and,  as  on  former  occasions,  served  as  the 
battleground  of  foreign  armies.  In  spite  of  the 
series  of  victories  won  by  the  French  general, 
the  Marshal  of  Luxemburg,  at  Fleurus  (1690), 
Steenkerque  (1692)  and  Neerwinden  (1693), 
William  III  always  succeeded  in  reconstituting 
his  army.  Two  years  later,  he  retook  Namur,  in 
spite  of  Marshal  de  Villeroi's  attack  on  Brussels, 
during  which  the  capital  was  bombarded  for  two 
days  (August  I3th  to  I5th)  with  red-hot  bullets, 
over  four  thousand  houses,  including  those  of 
the  Grand'  Place,  being  destroyed  by  fire.  The 


24O  BELGIUM 

peace  of  Ryswyck,  September  20,  1697,  gave 
back  to  Spain  the  advanced  fortresses  annexed 
by  the  two  previous  treaties,  William  being 
definitely  recognized  as  King  of  England. 

The  personal  union  between  the  two  countries 
reacted  somewhat  on  British  policy  in  the  Nether- 
lands, this  country  taking  a  far  more  important 
share  in  the  last  period  of  the  struggle  against 
Louis  XIV.  Up  till  then,  England  had  been 
content  with  checking  France's  encroachments  in 
Flanders  and  maintaining  the  balance  of  power 
in  Europe.  The  closer  relationships  with  the 
United  Provinces,  during  the  reigns  of  William 
and  Mary  and  of  Queen  Anne,  involved  England 
in  further  responsibilities  and  even  induced  her 
to  impose,  for  a  short  time,  an  Anglo-Dutch 
protectorate  on  the  Belgian  provinces.  This  atti- 
tude was  made  more  apparent  by  Marlborough's 
personal  ambitions  concerning  the  governorship  of 
the  Southern  provinces,  but  the  failure  of  these 
projects  and  the  prompt  return  to  traditional 
policy,  after  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  only  makes 
more  apparent  the  general  territorial  disinterested- 
ness of  this  country  concerning  the  Netherlands. 

Charles  II  of  Spain  had  died  in  1700,  leaving  all 
his  possessions  and  the  crown  of  Spain  to  Philip, 
Duke  of  Anjou,  the  second  grandson  of  Louis  XIV, 
thus  depriving  of  his  hopes  of  the  succession 
Archduke  Charles,  son  of  the  Emperor  Leopold  I, 
who  stood  in  exactly  the  same  relation  to  the 
deceased  monarch.  The  emperor  at  once  sought 
the  support  of  the  United  Provinces,  which,  how- 
ever, hesitated  to  reopen  hostilities.  The  Spanish 
governor  in  Belgium  was  then  Maximilian  Em- 
manuel of  Bavaria,  who  harboured  the  project  of 


MARLBOROUGH 's   CAMPAIGNS  241 

restoring  the  Southern  provinces  to  their  former 
prosperity  and  of  becoming  the  sovereign  of  the 
new  State,  with  or  without  a  Spanish  protectorate. 
French  agents  at  his  court  encouraged  his  plan 
and  so  lured  him  by  false  promises  that,  in  1701, 
he  allowed  French  troops  to  enter  Belgium  un- 
opposed and  to  establish  themselves  in  the  prin- 
cipal towns.  The  Grand  Alliance,  including  the 
same  partners  as  the  Augsburg  League,  was  at 
once  re-formed,  in  spite  of  the  death,  in  1702,  of 
William,  and  the  Duke  of  Marlborough  was  placed 
at  the  head  of  the  allied  troops.  During  the 
first  years  of  the  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession, 
operations  were  purely  defensive  in  the  Nether- 
lands, owing  specially  to  the  anxiety  of  the  Dutch 
not  to  risk  any  offensive  which  might  have  left 
a  gap  for  the  enemy's  attacks.  It  was  not  until 
1706  that  Marlborough  was  able  to  break  through 
the  enemy's  defences  at  Ramillies,  near  Tirlemont. 
This  victory  was  followed  by  a  French  retreat, 
and  the  Belgians  expected  to  be  placed  at  once 
under  the  rule  of  Charles  III,  the  other  claimant 
of  the  Spanish  crown,  instead  of  which  the  Council 
of  State,  summoned  in  Brussels,  was  subjected  to 
the  orders  of  an  Anglo-Batavian  Conference,  which 
had  no  legitimate  right  to  rule  the  country.  The 
Council  protested,  upon  several  occasions,  and 
the  exactions  of  the  allies,  who  had  been  first 
hailed  as  deliverers,  caused  such  indignation  in 
the  provinces  that  some  towns,  such  as  Ghent, 
opened  their  gates  to  the  French.  The  defeat  of 
Louis  XIV  was,  however,  consummated  at  Ouden- 
arde  (1708)  and  Malplaquet  (1709).  The  French 
forces  had  been  so  considerably  reduced  that, 
had  Louis's  openings  for  peace  been  met  at  the 

16 


242  BELGIUM 

time,  the  integrity  of  the  Southern  provinces 
might  have  been  restored.  The  Allies  were, 
however,  rather  indifferent  to  such  advantages, 
since  it  became  more  and  more  evident  that, 
owing  to  Anglo-Dutch  rivalries,  they  could  not 
reap  any  direct  benefit  from  them,  and  the  Nether- 
lands would  finally  have  to  be  restored  to  Charles  III, 
who,  at  the  death  of  the  emperor,  in  1710,  suc- 
ceeded his  brother  under  the  name  of  Charles  VI. 
The  Whig  Party  had  fallen  from  power  in  England 
in  the  previous  year,  and  Marlborough,  no  longer 
supported  at  home,  could  not  undertake  any 
further  operations.  Under  these  conditions  nego- 
tiations became  possible,  and  the  result  was  not 
so  damaging  to  the  prestige  of  France  as  might 
have  been  expected.  By  the  treaty  of  Utrecht 
(1713)  the  Southern  Netherlands  were  transferred 
to  the  Austrian  branch  of  the  Hapsburgs  as  a 
compensation  for  its  loss  of  the  Spanish  crown. 
Louis  restored  Tournai,  and  a  portion  of  West 
Flanders  beyond  the  Yser  including  Furnes  and 
Ypres,  but  Artois,  Walloon  Flanders,  the  south 
of  Hainault  and  of  Luxemburg  remained  French. 
From  the  point  of  view  of  the  Netherlands, 
the  treaties  of  Rastadt  and  of  Baden  (1714)  were 
merely  the  ratification,  by  the  emperor  and  by 
the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  of  the  clauses  of  the 
treaty  of  Utrecht.  But  the  treaty  of  Antwerp, 
or  of  the  Barriers,  concluded  the  next  year,  between 
Austria  and  the  United  Provinces,  included  new 
stipulations  practically  placing  the  new  Austrian 
Netherlands  under  the  tutelage  of  Holland  and 
still  increasing  her  territorial  encroachments.  This 
was  the  outcome  of  previous  conventions  concluded 
between  England  and  the  United  Provinces  and 


TREATY  OF  UTRECHT  243 

according  to  which  the  latter  were  promised, 
beside  some  territorial  advantages,  the  possession 
of  a  certain  number  of  fortified  towns  "  in  order 
that  they  should  serve  as  a  barrier  of  safety  to 
the  States  General  "  (1705).  If,  at  Utrecht,  the 
British  had  obtained  new  possessions  in  Canada, 
at  Antwerp  the  Dutch  claimed  their  share  of 
advantages  and  exacted  from  Charles  VI  the 
price  of  their  services.  Namur,  Tournai,  Menin, 
Ypres,  Warneton,  Furnes,  Knocke  and  Termonde 
were  to  be  the  fixed  points  of  the  Barrier  where 
the  United  Provinces  might  keep  their  troops  at 
the  expense  of  the  Belgian  provinces.  Further 
advantages  were  obtained  in  Zeeland  Flanders 
and  on  the  Meuse  by  the  annexation  of  Venloo, 
Stevensweert  and  Montfort.  The  fortifications  of 
Lie"ge,  Huy  and  Ghent  were  to  be  razed  and  the 
Dutch  had  further  the  right  to  flood  certain  parts 
of  the  country  if  they  considered  it  necessary 
for  defence.  The  Scheldt,  of  course,  remained 
closed,  since,  according  to  Article  XXVI,  "  the 
trade  of  the  Austrian  Netherlands  and  everything 
depending  on  it  would  be  on  the  same  footing 
as  that  established  by  the  treaty  of  Miinster, 
which  was  confirmed." 

The  treaty  of  the  Barriers  marked  the  lowest 
ebb  of  Belgian  nationality.  During  the  protracted 
war  which  preceded  it,  complete  anarchy  reigned, 
imperialists,  the  allied  conference,  Maximilian 
Emmanuel  and  the  French  administering  various 
parts  of  the  country.  The  great  nation  raised  in 
the  heart  of  Europe  by  the  dukes  of  Burgundy 
seemed  practically  annihilated,  but  the  people 
had  retained,  in  spite  of  all  reverses  and  tribula- 
tions, the  memory  of  their  past,  and,  from  the 


244  BELGIUM 

very  depth  of  their  misery,  evolved  a  new  strength 
and  reasserted  their  right  to  live,  in  spite  of  the 
attitude  of  all  European  Powers,  which  seemed, 
at  the  time,  to  consider  their  nationality  as  non- 
existent. 

"  We  are  reduced  to  the  last  extremity,"  wrote 
the  States  of  Brabant  to  Charles  II  in  1691, 
"  we  are  exhausted  to  the  last  substance  by  long 
and  costly  wars,  and  we  can  only  present  your 
Majesty  with  our  infirmities,  our  wounds  and  our 
cries  of  sorrow." 


CHAPTER   XXI 

THE  OSTEND  COMPANY 

THE  Austrian  regime  is  characterized  by  a  return 
to  more  peaceful  conditions,  since,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  period  of  1740  to  1748,  the  country 
was  not  directly  affected  by  European  conflicts. 
Under  any  rule,  this  period  of  peace  must  have 
been  marked  by  an  economic  renaissance  in 
a  country  disposing  of  such  natural  riches  as 
the  Southern  provinces.  The  Austrian  governors 
encouraged  this  movement,  as  the  archdukes  had 
encouraged  it  before,  but,  like  them,  they  were 
unable  to  deliver  the  country  from  its  economic 
bondage,  as  far  as  foreign  trade  was  concerned. 
The  maritime  countries  had  made  stringent  con- 
ditions on  the  cession  of  the  Southern  Nether- 
lands to  the  Austrian  dynasty.  The  treaties 
stipulated  that  "  the  loyal  subjects  of  his  Imperial 
Majesty  could  neither  buy  nor  sell  without  the 
consent  of  their  neighbours."  During  the  last 
years  of  the  Spanish  regime,  a  small  group  of 
Ostend  merchants  had  chartered  a  ship,  the 
Prince  Eugene,  and  founded  factories  near  Canton. 
This  was  the  origin  of  the  "  General  Company 
of  the  Indies  to  trade  in  Bengal  and  the  extreme 
East,"  usually  known  as  the  "  Ostend  Company," 
founded  in  1723.  Within  seven  hours'  time, 
the  capital  of  6,000,000  florins  was  subscribed, 
and  soon  eleven  ships  plied  between  Ostend 
and  a  series  of  factories  established  on  the  coast 

245 


246  BELGIUM 

of  Bengal  and  Southern  China.  This  success 
was  looked  at  askance  by  the  maritime  Powers, 
which,  basing  their  claim  on  a  clause  in  the  treaty 
of  Miinster  forbidding  the  Spanish  to  trade  in 
the  East  Indies,  made  the  suppression  of  the 
new  company  a  condition  to  the  acceptance  of 
the  Pragmatic  Sanction.  By  this  act,  Charles  VI 
endeavoured  to  ensure  the  succession  of  Maria 
Theresa  to  the  Austrian  throne.  Once  more, 
Belgium  was  sacrificed  to  dynastic  interests,  and 
on  May  31,  1727,  the  concession  of  the  Company 
of  Ostend  was  suspended,  to  be  finally  suppressed 
in  1731.  A  similar  attempt  was  made,  later 
in  the  century,  by  the  Company  of  Asia  and 
Africa,  whose  seat  was  at  Trieste,  with  a  branch 
at  Ostend.  This  company  chose  for  its  ventures 
the  deserted  group  of  islands  surrounding  Tristan 
d'Acunha,  with  the  idea  that  such  a  modest 
enterprise  could  not  possibly  awake  the  jealousy 
of  the  Powers.  But,  in  the  same  way,  in  1785, 
Holland,  England  and  France  brought  about  the 
failure  of  the  new  company.  Ostend  had  to  be 
satisfied  with  the  transit  of  Spanish  wool  towards 
the  Empire  and  with  the  temporary  activity 
brought  to  her  port  by  the  American  War  of 
Independence. 

In  spite  of  their  apparent  insignificance  and 
of  their  total  failure,  these  attempts  to  reopen 
communication  with  the  outer  world,  notwith- 
standing the  closing  of  the  Scheldt,  are  symp- 
tomatic of  a  remarkable  economic  revival.  The 
population  had  risen  from  two  to  three  millions, 
during  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
and  Brussels,  with  70,000  inhabitants,  Ghent 
and  Antwerp,  with  50,000  each,  had  regained 


INDUSTRIAL  PROGRESS  247 

a  certain  part  of  their  former  prosperity.  Native 
industry,  strongly  encouraged  by  protective 
measures,  made  a  wonderful  recovery.  In  the 
small  towns  and  the  country-side,  the  linen 
industry  benefited  largely  from  the  invention  of 
the  fly  shuttle,  over  two  hundred  thousand 
weavers  and  spinners  being  employed  in  1765. 
Lace-making  had  made  further  progress,  specially 
in  Brussels,  where  fifteen  thousand  women  followed 
this  trade.  In  1750  Tournai  became  an  impor- 
tant centre  for  the  china  industry,  its  wares 
acquiring  great  renown.  The  extraction  of  coal 
in  the  deeper  seams  had  been  facilitated  by  the 
use  of  recently  invented  steam-pumps,  and  the 
woollen  industry  around  Verviers  was  producing, 
in  1757,  70,000  pieces  of  material  a  year.  Such 
progress  largely  compensated  for  the  decadence 
of  tapestry,  which  had  been  ruined  by  the  rivalry 
of  printed  stuffs. 

The  Government  intervened  also  actively  in 
agricultural  matters  by  encouraging  small  owner- 
ship, at  the  expense  of  great  estates,  and  the 
breaking  up  of  new  ground.  The  land  tax  was 
more  evenly  distributed  and  the  great  work 
of  draining  the  Moeres  (flooded  land  between 
Furnes  and  Dunkirk),  which  had  been  begun 
by  the  archdukes,  was  successfully  completed 
(1780).  The  peasants  also  benefited  from  the 
cultivation  of  potatoes,  which  were  becoming 
more  and  more  popular. 

The  only  severe  check  to  economic  activity 
was  caused  by  the  War  of  the  Austrian  Succession, 
which  opened  at  the  accession  of  Maria  Theresa 
(1740),  and  which  opposed  the  forces  of  Austria, 
England  and  Holland  against  the  coalition  of 


248  BELGIUM 

Prussia,  France,  Spain  and  Poland.  A  British 
landing  in  Ostend  prevented  an  early  invasion 
of  the  Southern  Netherlands  by  France  during 
the  first  year  of  the  struggle,  but  in  1744  French 
troops  appeared  in  West  Flanders,  and  Belgium 
became  once  more  the  "  Cockpit  of  Europe." 

The  victory  of  Maurice  de  Saxe  at  Fontenoy 
against  the  allied  armies  commanded  by  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland  placed  the  Southern  Nether- 
lands under  French  occupation.  After  a  month's 
siege,  Brussels  was  obliged  to  capitulate,  and 
was  soon  followed  by  Antwerp  and  the  principal 
towns  of  the  country.  The  Marshal  de  Saxe 
treated  the  Belgian  provinces  as  conquered 
territory,  and  the  exactions  of  his  intendant, 
Moreau  de  Seychelles,  provoked  some  protests, 
which  were  abruptly  silenced.  After  two  years' 
operations,  during  which  the  allies  sustained 
some  reverses  on  land  but  obtained  some  vic- 
tories at  sea,  peace  was  finally  signed  at  Aix-la- 
Chapelle  (1748).  The  Belgian  provinces  came 
again  under  Austrian  rule,  and  Maestricht  and 
Bergen-op-Zoom,  which  had  been  conquered  by 
the  French,  were  given  back  to  Holland,  together 
with  the  fortresses  of  the  Barrier,  which  were 
again  occupied  by  Dutch  troops. 

Dutch  occupation  had,  from  the  beginning, 
been  strongly  resented  by  the  Belgian  people, 
who  felt  the  humiliation  of  entertaining  foreign 
garrisons  in  their  own  towns.  Now  that  the 
Dutch  had  proved  unable  to  defend  the  Barrier, 
its  re-establishment  was  still  less  justified  and 
was  considered  as  a  gratuitous  insult.  Nothing 
did  more  to  deepen  the  gulf  between  the  Southern 
and  Northern  Netherlands  than  the  mainten- 


AUSTRIAN  SUCCESSION  249 

ance  of  the  Barrier  system,  combined  with  the 
repeated  actions  taken  by  the  Dutch  to  ruin  the 
trade  of  Ostend  and  to  enforce  the  free  import 
of  certain  goods.  The  popularity  enjoyed  by 
Charles  de  Lorraine,  the  brother  in-law  of  Maria 
Theresa,  who  governed  the  Belgian  provinces 
from  1744  to  1780,  was  partly  due  to  the  resent- 
ment provoked  by  Dutch  supremacy. 

On  the  whole,  the  Austrian  regime  was  not 
very  different  from  the  Spanish.  The  provinces 
were  governed  from  Vienna,  where  the  Council 
of  the  Low  Countries  invariably  adopted  the 
Government's  decision.  The  States  General 
were  never  summoned  and  no  affair  of  importance 
was  submitted  to  the  Council  of  State  in  Brussels. 
Charles  de  Lorraine,  however,  showed  a  greater 
respect  for  local  privileges  than  his  predecessors 
and  gained  the  sympathy  of  the  nobles  by  his 
genial  manners.  He  held  court  either  in  Brussels 
or  in  his  castles  of  Mariemont  and  Tervueren, 
where  French  fashions  were  introduced  and  which 
recalled,  on  a  modest  scale,  the  glories  of  Versailles. 
Some  members  of  the  aristocracy,  like  Charles 
Joseph  de  Ligne,  who  was,  besides,  a  remarkable 
writer,  were  in  close  relations  with  the  French 
philosophers,  but  they  were  only  a  small  minority 
and  most  of  the  Belgian  nobles  were  decidedly 
hostile  to  the  new  ideas.  Voltaire,  who  visited 
Brussels  in  1738,  did  not  appreciate  this  provincial 
atmosphere  :  "  The  Arts  do  not  dwell  in  Brussels, 
neither  do  the  Pleasures ;  a  retired  and  quiet 
life  is  here  the  lot  of  nearly  all,  but  this  quiet 
life  is  so  much  like  tedium  that  one  may  easily 
be  mistaken  for  the  other." 

As   a   matter   of   fact,    though   the   eighteenth 


25O  BELGIUM 

century  contrasted  favourably  with  the  seven- 
teenth, in  the  Southern  provinces,  from  the 
economic  point  of  view,  its  intellectual  life  was 
extraordinarily  poor.  There  is  no  name  to 
mention  among  the  Flemish  writers.  Indeed, 
one  might  even  say  that  Flemish  had  practically 
ceased  to  be  written  and  had  become  a  mere 
dialect.  The  Prince  de  Ligne  remained  isolated 
in  his  castle  of  Beloeil,  designed  by  Lenotre, 
and  was  merely  a  French  intellectual  in  exile. 
A  Royal  Academy  of  Drawing  had  been  founded, 
but  the  period  hardly  produced  any  painter 
worthy  of  note.  An  Imperial  and  Royal  Academy 
of  Science  and  Letters  had  been  inaugurated 
in  1772,  but  the  only  members  were  scholars 
and  antiquaries  without  any  originality.  Maria 
Theresa  tried  to  react  against  this  intellectual 
apathy.  She  substituted  civil  for  ecclesiastical 
censorship,  she  commissioned  Count  de  Neny, 
the  famous  jurist,  to  reform  the  University 
of  Louvain.  When  the  order  of  the  Jesuits  was 
suppressed  by  the  pope  in  1773,  she  founded 
fifteen  new  lay  colleges,  known  as  Colleges  There- 
siens,  and  took  a  personal  interest  in  the  framing 
of  the  programme  of  studies  and  in  the  least 
detail  of  organization.  She  favoured  the  teach- 
ing of  Flemish  as  well  as  French  in  the  secondary 
schools  and  the  two  languages  were  placed  on 
exactly  the  same  footing.  In  the  judicial  domain 
she  succeeded  in  abolishing  torture  as  a  means 
of  inquiry.  She  also  attempted  to  relieve  pauper- 
ism by  the  foundation  of  orphanages  and  alms- 
houses. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  neither  Charles  VI 
nor    Maria    Theresa    ever    visited    Belgium,    the 


MARIA    THERESA  2$1 

people  felt  a  genuine  attachment  to  the  monarchy. 
They  lived  with  the  memory  of  such  severe  trials 
that  they  were  grateful  for  the  scant  attention 
they  received.  Besides,  the  Hapsburg  dynasty 
remained  one  of  their  links  with  the  past,  and 
it  is  significant  that,  at  a  time  when  all  eyes 
were  turned  towards  the  future,  the  Belgians, 
and  especially  the  popular  classes,  were  more 
and  more  thrown  back  on  their  own  traditions. 
No  doubt  the  economic  restrictions  to  which 
they  were  subjected  and  the  fact  that  they  were 
practically  isolated  must  have  conduced  to  this 
state  of  mind,  but  the  lack  of  political  indepen- 
dence is  mainly  responsible  for  it.  Unable  to 
take  their  fate  in  their  own  hands,  obliged  to 
submit  to  the  greatest  calamities  without  being 
allowed  to  avoid  or  to  prevent  them,  the  Belgians 
clung  to  the  last  vestige  of  their  past  privileges 
as  if  their  salvation  could  only  be  found  among 
the  ruins  of  their  bygone  glory. 

The  only  serious  civil  trouble  which  occurred 
under  Spanish  and  Austrian  rule  was  caused 
by  trivial  infringements  by  the  Government  of 
some  of  the  old  privileges  of  the  corporations. 
For  such  reasons,  riots  broke  out  in  Brussels 
(1619),  Antwerp  (1659)  an(^  Louvain  (1684). 
The  people  did  not  rise  against  foreign  domina- 
tion or  in  order  to  obtain  their  share  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  country,  but  because  they 
thought,  rightly  or  wrongly,  that  some  mediaeval 
custom,  which  they  considered  as  their  sacred 
privilege,  had  not  been  observed.  During  the 
last  years  of  the  Spanish  regime,  frequent  riots 
broke  out  in  Brussels  because,  after  the  acci- 
dental collapse  of  a  tower  containing  old  docu- 


252  BELGIUM 

ments,  the  people  had  been  able  to  read  again 
the  Grand  Privilege  of  Mary  of  Burgundy,  granted 
two  centuries  before.  They  had  reprints  made 
of  it  under  the  name  Luyster  van  Brabant 
(Ornament  of  Brabant)  and  wanted  to  persuade 
Maximilian  Emmanuel  to  apply  the  old  charter. 
After  long  delays,  the  governor  had  finally  to 
enforce  severe  regulations,  known  as  "  reglements 
additionnels."  This  incident  was  the  origin  of 
further  trouble  at  the  beginning  of  the  Austrian 
regime,  when  Prince  Eugene,  being  engaged  in 
the  war  against  the  Turks,  delegated  the  Marquis 
de  Prie  to  represent  him  in  the  Low  Countries. 
Unwilling  to  comply  with  the  new  regulations, 
the  Brussels  artisans  refused  to  pay  the  taxes. 
They  were  led  by  a  chair-maker,  Frangois 
Anneessens.  Riots  broke  out  in  1718  in  Brussels 
and  Malines,  and  Prie  was  obliged  to  let  the  local 
militia  restore  order.  He  had  meanwhile  sent 
for  troops,  and  in  October  1719  Brussels  was 
militarily  occupied.  Anneessens  was  executed,  and 
the  bitterness  provoked  by  this  tyrannical  measure 
obliged  the  Government  to  recall  Prie  a  few 
years  later  (1724).  These  popular  movements  were 
only  the  first  signs  of  the  increasing  restlessness 
of  the  people  which  caused  the  Brabanconne 
revolution  of  1789.  While  the  conservative  and 
even  reactionary  character  of  these  civil  troubles 
must  be  made  clear,  in  order  to  avoid  any  con- 
fusion between  the  Belgian  and  the  French 
revolutions,  it  must  at  the  same  time  be  admitted 
that  both  movements  started  from  the  same 
desire  for  change  and  from  the  same  confused 
feeling  that,  under  a  new  regime,  life  would  become 
more  tolerable.  The  social  conditions  caused 


POPULAR   RESTLESSNESS  253 

by  the  "  ancien  regime "  were  not  nearly  so 
oppressive  in  the  Belgian  provinces  as  in  France, 
and,  under  the  enlightened  rule  of  Maria  Theresa 
and  Joseph  II,  some  amelioration  was  certainly 
to  be  expected.  But  the  people  suffered  from 
the  artificial  conditions  under  which  they  lived 
economically,  and  though  they  did  not  see  clearly 
the  cause  of  their  trouble,  they  were  inclined  to 
seize  upon  any  pretext  to  manifest  their  dis- 
content. In  spite  of  all  appearances,  one  could 
suggest  that  the  closing  of  the  Scheldt  may 
have  had  something  to  do  with  the  overthrow 
of  the  Austrian  regime. 


CHAPTER   XXII 

THE  BRABANfONNE  REVOLUTION 

PHILIP  II's  policy  ruined  the  Southern  Netherlands 
at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Two  hundred 
years  later,  Joseph  II's  methods  of  government 
provoked  a  popular  reaction  which  practically 
brought  to  an  end  the  Hapsburg  regime.  The 
contrast  between  the  two  sovereigns  is  striking. 
Philip  II  is  the  type  of  the  monarchic  tyrant 
basing  his  claim  to  sovereignty  on  the  Divine 
Right  of  Kings  and  pursuing  these  principles  to 
their  extreme  conclusions.  Not  only  did  he 
consider  his  mission  to  govern  his  people's  bodies, 
but  he  also  felt  bound  to  govern  their  souls,  and 
sincerely  believed  that,  by  persecuting  heresy  by 
the  most  cruel  means,  he  was  in  reality  working 
for  their  good.  Opposed  to  this  clerical  fanatic, 
issuing  decrees  from  a  monastery  cell,  Joseph  II 
stands  as  the  type  of  the  modern  monarch,  brought 
up  on  eighteenth-century  enlightened  philosophy, 
for  whom  the  State  was  not  to  serve  the  Church 
but  to  be  served  by  it.  For  this  young  philosopher, 
who  affected  the  greatest  simplicity  in  manners 
and  habits,  the  sovereign  himself  was  the  first 
servant  of  the  State,  and  his  autocratic  rule  was 
only  justified  by  his  belief  that  a  reasonable  and 
wise  government  could  not  be  subjected  to  the 
peoples'  control. 

But,   in    spite   of    this    contrast   in   education, 
external  appearance    and  outlook,  Philip   II  and 

254 


JOSEPH    II. 
From  a  contemporary  engraving. 


JOSEPH  II  255 

Joseph  II  had  certain  points  in  common.  They 
were  both  conscientious  workers,  over-anxious 
to  control  every  act  of  their  representatives, 
and  they  had  both  the  greatest  contempt  for 
the  feelings  of  the  people  they  governed.  Having 
come  to  certain  conclusions,  they  applied  them 
mechanically,  scornful  of  all  resistance.  They 
held  the  secret  of  their  people's  happiness  or 
salvation  in  their  hands  and  they  were  resolved 
to  enforce  this  happiness  and  this  salvation  on 
them  whether  they  agreed  or  not.  They  both 
possessed  the  hard,  intolerant  and  virtuous  mind 
which  makes  the  worst  autocrats.  The  only 
striking  difference  between  the  wishes  of  the  two 
monarchs  was  that  the  fanatic  of  eighteenth-cen- 
tury philosophy  was  determined  that  his  people 
should  find  happiness  in  this  life,  while  the  fanatic 
of  the  Catholic  Renaissance  was  determined  that 
they  should  find  this  happiness  in  the  next. 

Such  appreciation  may  seem  strange  if  one 
considers  that  one  of  Joseph  II's  cardinal  prin- 
ciples of  government  was  precisely  religious  and 
philosophic  tolerance  and  the  complete  dissocia- 
tion of  State  politics  from  personal  belief.  But 
we  are  not  concerned  at  present  with  the  personal 
philosophy  of  the  two  kings,  but  with  the  way 
it  affected  their  people.  This  people,  as  far  as 
the  Netherlands  were  concerned,  were  the  last 
in  Europe  to  tolerate  such  hard  and  abstract 
methods  of  government,  and  nothing  perhaps 
is  more  enlightening,  if  we  try  to  form  an  ade- 
quate opinion  of  Belgian  temperament,  than 
the  upheaval  caused  by  the  reforms  proclaimed 
by  the  "  benighted  "  and  by  the  "  enlightened  " 
monarch.  It  was  not  so  much  that  the  Belgians 


256  BELGIUM 

rebelled  against  Inquisition,  in  one  case,  and 
against  secularization  in  the  other.  We  have 
seen  that,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  the  great 
majority  had  remained  Catholic,  in  spite  of 
Calvinistic  propaganda,  and,  though  the  Church 
had  obtained  still  greater  authority  during  the 
seventeenth  century,  the  minority  influenced  by 
the  ideas  of  the  French  Revolution  was  by  no 
means  to  be  disregarded.  The  principle  to  which 
the  Belgians  most  objected  was  State  worship, 
because  it  broke  up  all  the  traditions  of  the  Bur- 
gundian  and  post-Burgundian  periods.  As  long 
as  these  traditions  and  local  privileges,  giving 
them  still  a  shadow  of  provincial  independence, 
were  respected,  they  submitted  without  too  much 
difficulty  to  the  imposition  of  centralized  insti- 
tutions and  to  foreign  rule.  They  were  even 
ready,  when  this  rule  proved  at  all  congenial, 
to  give  solid  proofs  of  their  loyalty.  They  were 
very  sensible  of  any  mark  of  sympathy  and 
showed  an  almost  exaggerated  gratitude  to  any 
prince  who  condescended  to  preside  over  their 
festivals  and  share  in  their  pleasures.  This  had 
been  the  secret  of  Charles  V's  popularity,  and 
the  successful  governorship  of  Charles  de  Lorraine 
had  no  other  cause.  But  Charles  de  Lorraine 
was  just  the  type  of  man  whom  a  puritan  dog- 
matist like  Joseph  II  could  not  stand.  Though 
he  had  visited  most  of  his  estates,  as  heir  apparent, 
he  had  always  refrained  from  going  to  Belgium, 
owing  to  his  antipathy  for  his  uncle,  whose  popu- 
larity he  envied.  When  Charles  died,  he  changed 
the  name  of  the  regiment  which  had  been  called 
after  him.  His  visit  to  Belgium,  in  1781,  was  a 
great  disappointment  to  the  people — as  great  a  dis- 


JOSEPH'S  VISIT  TO  BELGIUM  257 

appointment  as  the  first  appearance  of  Philip  II 
in  Brussels.  He  started  with  the  intention  of 
"  undertaking  a  serious  and  thorough  study " 
of  the  Southern  Netherlands.  When  asked  to 
preside  over  a  festivity,  in  Luxemburg,  he  an- 
swered that  he  had  not  come  "  to  eat,  drink  and 
dance,  but  on  serious  business."  When  shown, 
at  Ghent,  the  glorious  masterpiece  of  Flemish 
art,  the  crowning  glory  of  the  Burgundian  time, 
Van  Eyck's  Adoration  of  the  Lamb,  he  objected 
to  the  nude  figures  of  Adam  and  Eve  and  had 
them  removed.  He  appeared  in  simple  uniform, 
accompanied  by  one  servant,  stayed  at  the  public 
inn  and  travelled  in  public  coaches.  He  spent 
most  of  his  time  in  government  offices,  taking 
no  opportunity  to  mix  with  the  people  and  visit- 
ing in  a  hurried  way  schools,  barracks  and  work- 
shops. Such  were  his  serious  studies.  How  could 
the  people  understand  a  prince  who  understood 
them  so  little  ?  Perceiving  this  lack  of  sympathy, 
he  had  already  judged  them  ;  they  were,  for  him, 
"  frenchified  heads  who  cared  for  nothing  but 
beer." 

Maria  Theresa,  though  her  policy  had  remained 
strictly  dynastic,  involving  even  the  possible 
exchange  of  her  Belgian  provinces  against  other 
States,  had  acquired  a  certain  knowledge  of  the 
people  and  realized  that  their  prejudices,  though 
absurd  according  to  her  own  lights,  had  to  be 
indulged.  She  had  urged  her  son  to  be  patient 
with  regard  to  such  prejudices,  "  of  which  too 
many  had  already  been  scraped  away."  She 
realized  that  the  acceptance  by  the  Government 
of  local  customs  and  privileges  was  an  essential 
condition  to  the  continuance  of  Austrian  rule,  that 

17 


258  BELGIUM 

the  people,  unable  to  defend  themselves,  centred  all 
their  affection  and  their  pride  on  these  last  rem- 
nants of  their  former  glory,  and  that  religious 
ceremonies  and  popular  feasts  were  a  healthy 
overflow  for  popular  energy  which  might  other- 
wise become  dangerous.  Choosing  her  oppor- 
tunities, she  had  gradually  worked  towards  the 
secularization  of  education  and  the  limitation 
of  the  privileges  of  the  clergy,  but  she  had  not 
attempted  wholesale  reforms. 

Joseph  II,  on  the  contrary,  worked  according 
to  plan,  and  was  bent  on  destroying  whatever 
seemed  to  him  absurd  in  the  customs  and  in- 
stitutions of  the  country.  Practically  everything 
seemed  so  to  him :  the  anachronism  of  the 
Joyous  Entry,  the  medievalism  of  the  Grand 
Privilege  of  Mary  of  Burgundy,  the  regionalism 
of  provincial  States,  the  prestige  of  the  Church, 
the  pilgrimages,  the  intolerance,  down  to  the 
popular  festivities,  the  drinking  bouts  of  the 
"  kerm esses  "  and  the  mad  craving  of  the  people 
for  good  cheer.  This  last  trait  was  as  characteristic 
of  the  Belgian  people  in  those  days  as  in  mediaeval 
and  modern  times.  All  the  realist  painters,  from 
Breughel  to  Jordaens  and  from  Jordaens  to 
Teniers,  had  exalted  the  joys  of  popular  holidays, 
and  it  is  remarkable  that,  during  a  century  when 
there  was  so  little  to  eat  in  the  country  and  so 
little  cause  for  merrymaking,  the  works  of  art 
which  are  the  truest  expression  of  the  people's 
aspirations  dwell  on  no  other  subject  with  so 
much  relish  and  insistence.  The  tragic  side  of 
life  was  not  represented,  and  one  might  venture 
to  say  that  the  admirers  of  such  merry  kermesses 
must  often  have  taken  their  wish  for  the  reality. 


WAR   OF   THE   CAULDRON 

Like  Breughel's  "  Pays  de  Cocagne,"  they  de- 
scribed an  earthly  paradise  far  more  distant  than 
the  heavenly  one. 

In  one  way  only  the  emperor  understood  the 
aspirations  of  his  people  and  supported  them  up 
to  a  certain  point.  Before  organizing  his  posses- 
sions according  to  the  ideal  project  he  had  already 
sketched,  he  intended  to  consolidate  their  political 
situation.  The  Barrier  system  was  as  distasteful 
to  him  as  to  the  population  of  Flanders  and 
Hainault,  and  he  shared  the  grievances  of  the 
merchants  of  Antwerp  with  regard  to  the  closing 
of  the  Scheldt.  As  early  as  1756  Maria  Theresa 
had  refused  to  pay  the  annual  tribute  for  the 
upkeep  of  the  Dutch  garrisons,  which  had  done  so 
little  to  defend  Belgium  during  the  previous  war, 
but  she  had  been  unable  to  prevent  the  Prince 
of  Brunswick  from  rebuilding  the  destroyed 
fortresses  and  from  reinstating  the  garrisons. 
After  the  break  up  of  the  Dutch-British  alliance, 
owing  to  the  American  War,  Joseph  II  did  not 
hesitate  to  demolish  the  fortresses,  and  the  Dutch 
garrisons  were  obliged  to  depart  (1782).  Encour- 
aged by  this  first  success  and  finding  England 
eager  to  reopen  the  Scheldt,  owing  to  the  blockade 
of  the  Dutch  coast,  the  emperor  announced  the 
liberty  of  the  river,  and  followed  this  announce- 
ment by  sending,  rather  rashly,  a  small  brig, 
the  Louis,  flying  his  flag,  from  Antwerp  down 
to  the  sea.  A  shot,  fired  from  a  Dutch  cutter, 
hit  a  cauldron  which  happened  to  be  on  deck 
and  Europe  was  faced  with  the  prospect  of  a  new 
war.  The  "  War  of  the  Cauldron  "  was,  however, 
prevented  by  the  mediation  of  Louis  XVI,  and 
[the  treaty  of  Fontainebleau  (1785),  while  recog- 


26O  BELGIUM 

nizing  the  suppression  of  the  Barrier,  maintained 
the  closing  of  the  Scheldt. 

This  check  in  his  foreign  policy  further  increased 
the  unpopularity  of  Joseph  II  in  Belgium.  Jealous 
of  the  authority  of  Duke  Albert  Casimir  of  Saxe- 
Teschen  and  of  his  sister,  Marie  Christine,  his 
representatives  in  the  country,  the  emperor 
deprived  them  of  all  initiative  and  acted  directly 
through  his  minister  plenipotentiary,  the  Count 
of  Belgiojioso.  In  order  to  restrict  the  influence 
of  the  clergy  and  to  bring  Belgian  institutions 
into  complete  harmony  with  the  organization 
of  his  other  States,  Joseph  II  issued,  from  1781 
to  1786,  a  series  of  edicts  which  could  not  fail 
to  cause  great  indignation  among  the  Catho- 
lics :  all  public  functions  were  rendered  accessible 
to  Catholics  and  non-Catholics  alike,  complete 
liberty  of  worship  was  proclaimed,  mixed  marriages 
(between  Catholics  and  Protestants)  were  author- 
ized, the  keeping  of  the  parish  registers  was  taken 
from  the  ecclesiastical  authorities,  all  "  useless  " 
convents  and  monasteries  were  suppressed,  all 
episcopal  charges  were  subjected  to  imperial 
sanction,  all  episcopal  seminaries  were  suppressed, 
to  be  replaced  by  controlled  seminaries  at  Louvain 
and  Luxemburg.  The  parish  limits  were  altered 
and  strong  regulations  were  made  with  regard 
to  processions,  pilgrimages  and  even  sacerdotal 
costume,  while  burying  in  consecrated  ground 
was  forbidden,  in  order  that  all  dead,  whatever 
their  creed,  should  be  equally  honoured. 

Some  of  these  measures  might  have  been 
quite  justified,  and  the  example  of  Maria  Theresa 
shows  that  they  might  have  been  taken  progres- 
sively, under  favourable  circumstances,  without 


INTERNAL  REFORMS  26 1 

causing  trouble.  What  hurt  the  people  most 
was  their  sweeping  character,  their  frequency  and 
the  petty  tyranny  with  which  they  were  applied. 
It  was  not  without  reason  that  Frederick  II 
of  Prussia  nicknamed  Joseph  "  my  brother 
the  sacristan."  The  emperor  had  gone  as  far 
as  replacing  the  Catholic  brotherhoods  by  the 
"  Brotherhood  of  the  Active  Love  of  My 
Neighbour."  All  protests  remained  without  the 
least  result.  They  were  merely,  according  to 
Joseph  II,  "  the  effect  of  delirium."  Within 
five  years,  this  too  sensible  sovereign,  by  calling 
all  those  who  did  not  agree  with  him  "  madmen," 
had  succeeded  in  undoing  all  the  good  work 
undertaken  by  Charles  de  Lorraine  and  in  ruining 
Austrian  authority  in  the  Netherlands.  In  1786 
Joseph  II  undertook  to  regulate  the  people's 
pleasures.  In  order  to  prevent  the  inhabitants  of 
neighbouring  villages  and  towns  from  taking  part 
in  each  other's  kermesses,  he  fixed  one  day  in 
the  year  for  the  celebration  of  all  these  festivities. 
No  wonder  that  his  good  intentions  were  not 
appreciated  and  that  this  constant  interference 
of  the  State  in  the  people's  most  intimate  and 
cherished  traditions  was  met  with  growing 
dislike. 

The  emperor,  nevertheless,  did  not  slacken 
his  activity,  and  the  next  year  issued  a  decree 
which  completely  upset  the  administrative  and 
judicial  organization  of  the  provinces.  A  "  General 
Council  of  the  Low  Countries  "  replaced  the  three 
collateral  Councils.  The  country  was  divided 
into  nine  circles,  under  the  authority  of  inten- 
dants,  each  of  which  was  subdivided  into  districts 
under  the  authority  of  commissaries.  All  supreme 


262  BELGIUM 

courts,  provincial,  municipal,  ecclesiastical,  uni- 
versity and  corporation  courts  were  replaced, 
from  one  day  to  another,  by  sixty-four  ordinary 
tribunals,  two  courts  of  appeal  and  one  court  of 
revision. 

This  last  measure,  which  really  meant  the 
final  break  up  of  all  the  privileges  and  institu- 
tions so  anxiously  defended  and  preserved  through 
centuries  of  foreign  oppression,  provoked  a  unani- 
mous protest.  The  Catholics,  headed  by  the 
popular  tribune  Van  der  Noot,  were  joined  by 
the  minority  of  nobles  and  bourgeois  influenced 
by  the  ideas  of  the  French  Revolution,  whose 
principal  representative  was  Fran$ois  Vonck. 
The  States  of  Brabant  refused  to  pay  the  taxes, 
as  long  as  the  1787  decrees  were  not  repealed, 
and  the  few  partisans  of  Belgiojioso,  or  "  Figs," 
were  persecuted  by  the  populace.  On  May  18, 
1787,  Duke  Albert  Casimir  wrote  to  Joseph  II : 
"  Convinced  that  it  is  attacked  in  its  most  sacred 
rights  and  its  very  liberty,  the  whole  nation, 
from  the  first  to  the  last  citizen,  is  permeated 
with  a  patriotic  enthusiasm  which  would  cause 
them  to  shed  the  last  drop  of  their  blood  rather 
than  obey  laws  which  the  authorities  would 
endeavour  to  impose  and  which  appear  contrary 
to  the  Constitution." 

Meanwhile  Van  der  Noot  and  Vonck  had 
founded  a  Patriotic  Committee,  heavily  sub- 
sidized by  the  clergy,  which  enlisted  volunteers 
and  circulated  anti-imperial  pamphlets.  In 
August  1787  Joseph  II  was  at  last  persuaded 
to  suspend  his  last  decrees,  on  the  condition 
that  the  Committee  should  be  dissolved  and 
the  volunteers  disbanded.  He  sent  to  Brussels, 


VAN    DEK   NOOT. 
From  a  contemporary  enjjraving. 


RELIGIOUS  REFORMS  263 

as  plenipotentiary,  Count  Trautmansdorff,  with 
dictatorial  powers,  and  General  d'Alton  as  com- 
mander of  the  imperial  forces.  Under  the  threat 
of  the  military,  the  Council  of  Brabant  was 
obliged  to  submit. 

The  religious  reforms,  however,  were  still  pro- 
voking strong  opposition.  The  Seminary  General 
remained  without  pupils.  The  University  of 
Louvain,  having  rebelled  against  the  new  regula- 
tions, was  closed.  Riots  broke  out  in  Louvain, 
M  alines  and  Antwerp  which  were  sternly  repressed. 
The  States  of  Hainault,  having  refused  subsidies, 
were  dissolved.  When  the  States  of  Brabant 
adopted  a  similar  attitude,  the  emperor  had 
guns  trained  on  the  Grand'  Place  of  Brussels 
and  threatened  "  to  turn  the  capital  into  a  desert 
where  grass  would  grow  in  the  streets."  The 
autocrat  was  now  showing  under  the  dogmatist. 
Exasperated  by  resistance,  Joseph  II  asked  from 
the  States  of  Brabant  a  perpetual  subsidy,  de- 
clared his  intention  of  revising  the  Joyous  Entry, 
which  he  had  sworn  to  maintain,  and  of  taking 
up  his  plans  of  judiciary  reorganization.  The 
States,  having  refused  their  support,  were  dis- 
solved and  the  Joyous  Entry  annulled. 

It  so  happened  that  public  opinion  was  stirred 
most  acutely  in  the  provinces  at  the  time  of 
the  taking  of  the  Bastille  by  the  people  of  Paris 
(July  1789).  This  great  symbolic  event  was 
bound  to  react  on  the  Belgian  crisis.  The  Vonckist 
minority  was  strongly  encouraged  and  the  rest 
of  the  people  saw  in  the  event  merely  a  victory 
of  liberty  against  autocracy.  Van  der  Noot  had 
taken  refuge  in  Breda,  whence  he  had  under- 
taken several  journeys  to  secure  the  support  of 


264  BELGIUM 

the  Triple  Alliance.  Pitt  had  refused  to  grant  him 
an  audience,  but  the  Dutch  and  Prussian  govern- 
ments, without  making  any  definite  engagements, 
had  at  least  lent  an  ear  to  his  proposals.  The 
popular  leader,  rushing  to  hasty  conclusions, 
announced  that  the  Powers  were  favourable 
to  the  revolution.  Vonck,  on  the  other  hand, 
had  established  his  headquarters  in  the  princi- 
pality of  Liege,  where  he  had  many  friends  and 
where  he  succeeded  in  enlisting  a  certain  number 
of  volunteers.  When  the  Austrians  entered  the 
principality,  he  was  obliged  to  leave  for  Breda, 
where  he  joined  forces  with  Van  der  Noot.  A 
retired  colonel  of  the  Prussian  army,  Van  der 
Meersch,  was  chosen  as  the  commander  of  the 
three  thousand  badly  equipped  volunteers 
massed  along  the  Dutch  frontier.  On  October 
23rd  he  occupied  Hoogstraeten,  in  the  Campine, 
and  issued  a  manifesto  in  which  Joseph  II  was 
declared  to  have  forfeited  his  rights.  A  slight 
success  at  Turnhout,  a  few  days  later,  followed 
by  the  retreat  of  the  Austrian  forces,  sufficed  to 
provoke  risings  all  over  the  country.  Deserted 
by  his  Walloon  troops,  General  d' Alton  was 
obliged  to  leave  Brussels  for  Luxemburg,  the 
only  town  remaining  loyal.  On  December  i8th 
Van  der  Noot  and  Vonck  made  their  solemn 
entry  into  Brussels,  followed  by  a  thanksgiving 
service  at  Ste  Gudule.  Amazed  by  these  events, 
Joseph  II  wrote  to  Count  de  Segur  :  "A  general 
madness  seems  to  seize  all  peoples ;  those  of 
Brabant,  for  instance,  have  revolted  because 
I  wanted  to  give  them  what  your  own  nation 
clamours  for."  He  was  certainly  nearer  the 
truth  than  Camille  Desmoulins,  who,  in  his  well- 


X 

3    H 


z    g 

3    o 


"BELGIAN  UNITED  STATES"  265 

known  paper,  assimilated  the  two  revolutions 
because  they  started  almost  on  the  same  day. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Brabangonne  revolution 
was  far  more  conservative  than  progressive. 
The  intellectual  Vonckists,  who  had  always  been 
in  a  minority,  were  practically  ignored  on  the 
morrow  of  the  victory,  and  Van  der  Noot  assumed 
power. 

The  new  Constitution,  accepted,  on  January  n, 
1790,  by  delegates  of  the  provincial  States,  with 
the  exception  of  Luxemburg,  declared  the  "  Etats 
Belgiques  Unis  "  to  form  a  confederation  under 
the  leadership  of  a  Supreme  Congress.  The 
States  General  dealt  only  with  questions  of  general 
administration  and  differences  between  the  pro- 
vinces. The  Congress  was  responsible  for  foreign 
affairs,  all  local  matters  being  referred  to  the 
provincial  States.  Though,  at  first  sight,  this 
Constitution  seems  to  be  strongly  influenced  by 
the  American  example,  it  marked  merely  the 
triumph  of  the  particularist  tendencies  of  the 
Middle  Ages  and  a  reaction  against  the  dogmatic 
and  centralized  rule  of  Joseph  II.  It  secured 
the  predominance  of  the  nobility  and  the  clergy 
and  the  maintenance  of  the  old  States,  while 
preserving  the  Church  against  any  attempt 
at  secularization.  Any  effort  made  by  the 
Vonckists  to  infuse  the  new  Constitution  with 
the  principles  of  the  Rights  of  Man  and  popular 
sovereignty  was  not  only  resisted,  but  strongly 
resented,  and  soon  a  regular  persecution  of  the 
progressive  bourgeois  and  nobles  was  organized 
by  the  "  statistes  "  led  by  Van  der  Noot.  Vonck 
and  his  followers  were  obliged  to  fly  to  France, 
and  Van  der  Meersch,  who  sided  with  them, 


266  BELGIUM 

was  arrested  by  Baron  de  Schoenfeldt,  placed  by 
the  Congress  at  the  head  of  the  National  troops. 

The  new  emperor,  Leopold  II,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded his  brother  on  the  throne  of  Austria 
(February  1790),  took  the  opportunity  offered 
by  these  internal  troubles  to  reopen  negotiations. 
He  promised  a  complete  amnesty,  the  suppression 
of  the  reforms  and  the  nomination  of  Belgians 
to  all  posts,  even  those  of  Plenipotentiary  and 
of  Commander  of  the  National  forces.  Van  der 
Noot  had  refused  these  offers  on  the  ground  that 
the  Triple  Alliance  would  support  the  Confederacy. 
On  July  27th,  however,  England,  the  United 
Provinces  and  Prussia  signed  the  Convention 
of  Reichenbach,  reinstating  Leopold  II  in  his 
dominion  over  the  Netherlands.  This  contri- 
buted to  ruin  the  prestige  of  the  Congress.  The 
Belgian  National  troops  could  not  offer  much 
resistance  to  the  invading  Austrian  armies. 
On  November  25th,  Marshal  Bender  reached 
Namur,  and  on  December  2nd,  nearly  a  year 
after  their  departure  from  Brussels,  the  Austrians 
re-entered  the  capital.  The  Reichenbach  Con- 
vention had  guaranteed  complete  amnesty. 
Leopold  II  kept  his  promise  and,  by  the  treaty 
of  The  Hague,  restored  all  institutions  as  they 
had  been  in  the  reign  of  Maria  Theresa. 

Thus  failed  miserably  a  revolution  begun  amid 
fervent  enthusiasm.  The  patriotism  of  the 
people  cannot  be  questioned.  They  had  only 
been  reconciled  to  foreign  rule  in  the  sixteenth 
century  because  it  had  been  the  means  of  pre- 
serving their  faith  and  their  ancient  traditions. 
As  soon  as  this  tacit  contract  was  broken,  they 
decided  to  shake  off  foreign  tutelage  and  to 


RETURN  OF  THE  AVSTRIANS  26/ 

make  a  bid  for  independence.  But,  if  the  people 
did  not  lack  public  spirit,  they  had  lost  contact 
with  the  times  and  were  unable  to  use  their 
liberty  when  they  had  conquered  it.  Public 
opinion  was  uneducated  and  regionalism  had 
blinded  the  people  to  the  advantages  which  they 
might  have  derived  from  a  more  centralized 
regime.  They  were  not  prepared  to  make  any 
concessions  to  their  political  adversaries  for  the 
sake  of  unity  ;  they  had  still  to  learn  the  motto 
of  1830  :  "  Union  is  Strength."  In  this  way,  the 
terrible  ordeal  which  they  had  to  undergo  under 
French  occupation  did  not  remain  entirely  fruit- 
less. Neither  the  Spaniards  nor  the  Austrians 
had  succeeded  in  uprooting  particularist  ten- 
dencies. The  French  imposed  a  centralized 
regime  and  impressed  the  people  with  its  social 
value.  When,  in  1830,  the  Belgians  again  rebelled 
against  foreign  oppression,  they  had  learnt  their 
lesson  and  did  not  again  allow  internal  differences 
to  deprive  them  of  the  fruit  of  their  labours. 


CHAPTER    XXIII 

LIBERTY,  EQUALITY,  FRATERNITY 

ONE  of  the  reasons  of  Joseph  II's  failure  to  reform 
Belgian  institutions  was  that  his  monarchical 
power  rested  mainly  on  the  nobility,  the  clergy 
and  the  peasants,  who  were  bound  to  resent 
the  sacrifice  of  their  privileges  and  traditions. 
The  French  Republic  and  its  outcome,  the  Napole- 
onic regime,  were  more  successful,  not  because 
they  displayed  more  diplomacy  and  moderation, 
but  because,  in  spite  of  their  excesses  and  auto- 
cratic procedure,  they  really  brought  a  new  idea 
into  the  country  and  based  their  power  on  a  new 
conception  of  society.  The  bourgeois  elements 
of  the  Vonckist  school  and  the  population  of 
the  great  towns  had  by  now  been  permeated 
with  the  spirit  of  the  Revolution.  They  had 
adopted  the  principle  of  the  Rights  of  Man  and 
of  equal  citizenship,  and,  for  the  sake  of  such 
ideals,  they  were  prepared  to  make  some  allow- 
ances. The  first  years  of  the  French  regime 
were  nevertheless  a  bitter  disappointment. 

By  the  declaration  of  Pillnitz  (1791),  Leopold 
II,  brother  of  the  French  queen,  had  laid  the 
basis  of  the  first  coalition  and  manifested  his 
intention  of  intervening  in  favour  of  Louis  XVI. 
After  his  death  (1792)  Francis  II  pursued  a 
still  more  aggressive  policy  towards  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  the  Girondins,  who  had  just  come  into 

power,  obliged  the  King  of  France  to  declare  war 

268 


JEMAPPES  269 

against  Austria.  The  first  attacks  against  Bel- 
gium were  easily  repulsed  by  the  imperial  troops, 
commanded  by  national  leaders,  but  the  victory 
of  Jemappes  (November  6th),  won  by  Dumouriez 
with  the  help  of  a  Belgian  legion,  opened  the 
Belgian  provinces  to  the  revolutionary  troops. 
General  Dumouriez  was  a  moderate  and  intended 
to  remain  faithful  to  the  principles  of  liberty. 
He  issued  a  proclamation,  approved  by  the 
Convention,  declaring  that  his  soldiers  were  coming 
as  allies  and  as  brothers.  When,  on  November 
I4th,  he  was  offered  the  keys  of  Brussels  by  the 
magistrates,  he  refused  them,  saying :  "  Keep 
the  keys  yourselves  and  keep  them  carefully ; 
let  no  foreigner  rule  you  any  more,  for  you  are 
not  made  for  such  a  fate."  Greatly  impressed 
by  the  warm  reception  given  him  in  Mons  and 
Brussels  by  the  Vonckists,  he  did  not  realize 
that  the  country  was  far  from  being  unanimous. 
The  French  general  declared  the  Scheldt  open, 
in  accordance  with  a  decree  of  the  Republic 
which  had  proclaimed  the  freedom  of  the  river. 
While  the  Belgians  hesitated  to  declare  a 
Convention  and  to  organize  themselves  according 
to  the  Republican  regime,  they  began  to  feel  the 
first  effects  of  the  occupation.  The  French  army, 
in  the  region  of  Lie"ge,  lived  only  on  requisitions. 
Cambon  had  presented  to  the  Convention  (Decem- 
ber 1792)  a  decree  suppressing  all  distinctions 
and  privileges  in  the  conquered  territories,  these 
being  replaced  by  the  sovereignty  of  the  people. 
This  sovereignty  being  without  expression  in 
Belgium,  the  provinces  were  practically  adminis- 
tered by  a  number  of  Jacobin  Commissaries,  whose 
most  important  task  was  to  confiscate  the  goods 


2/O  BELGIUM 

of  the  nobles  and  of  the  clergy  and  to  enforce 
the  circulation  of  the  revolutionary  paper  money 
(assignats).  These  measures  provoked  a  reac- 
tion in  favour  of  Statism,  and  the  conservatives 
obtained  an  overwhelming  majority  in  the  elections 
held  in  December.  Meanwhile,  England  and  the 
United  Provinces,  alarmed  by  the  progress  of  the 
French  in  the  Netherlands,  had  joined  the  first 
coalition  (January  1793),  and  the  Jacobins,  domina- 
ting the  Convention,  had  entered  upon  an  annexa- 
tionist  policy,  nothing  short  of  the  left  bank  of 
the  Rhine  being  able,  according  to  them,  to  secure 
France  against  the  attacks  of  the  reaction.  In 
order  to  appease  the  scruples  of  the  French 
moderates,  the  Jacobins  endeavoured  to  provoke 
manifestations  in  favour  of  annexation  in  the 
Belgian  provinces.  A  regular  propaganda  was 
organized  by  the  Clubs.  Orators,  wearing  the 
scarlet  hood  and  armed  with  pikes,  addressed 
the  crowds  in  the  market-places.  The  deputy 
Chepy,  who  had  taken  the  leadership  of  the 
movement,  declared  that  he  was  determined  to 
obtain  reunion  by  "  the  power  of  reason,  the 
touching  insinuations  of  philanthropy  and  by 
all  means  of  revolutionary  tactics."  On  many 
occasions  crowds  driven  into  a  church  were 
surrounded  by  armed  "  Sans  Culottes  "  and 
obliged  to  manifest  their  attachment  to  the  Re- 
public by  loud  acclamations.  In  March  1793  a 
rising  was  imminent,  ten  thousand  armed  peasants 
being  already  concentrated  near  Grammont.  It 
was  prevented,  at  the  last  moment,  by  the  return 
of  Dumouriez,  who  ordered  Chepy  to  be  arrested, 
liberated  hostages  and  enforced  the  restitution 
of  the  spoils  taken  from  churches  and  castles. 


NEER  WIN  DEN  2  / 1 

In  a  letter  to  the  Convention,  he  protested  against 
the  mad  policy  pursued  by  the  Jacobin  Commis- 
saries, and  adjured  them  to  read  through  the  story 
of  the  Netherlands,  where  they  would  find  that 
the  good  will  of  the  Belgian  people  could  never 
be  obtained  by  force. 

Defeated  at  Neerwinden  (March  1793),  Dumou- 
riez  was  obliged  to  retreat,  and  on  April  28th  the 
Austrians  re-entered  Brussels.  The  restoration 
was  favourably  greeted  by  the  people,  espe- 
cially as  Francis  II  adhered  faithfully  to  the  old 
privileges,  abstaining  from  levying  recruits,  after 
the  refusal  of  the  States  of  Brabant,  and  person- 
ally taking  the  oath  of  the  Joyous  Entry  (April 
1794).  This  was  the  last  time  that  this  ancient 
ceremony  was  performed. 

A  few  days  later,  Pichegru  started  a  great 
offensive  movement  in  Flanders,  and  on  June 
26th,  the  victory  of  Fleurus  again  placed  the 
Belgian  provinces  in  French  hands.  While 
Jourdan  pursued  the  imperialists  towards  the 
Rhine,  taking  Maestricht  on  his  way,  Pichegru 
continued  the  campaign  in  Holland.  Zeeland 
Flanders  had  already  been  conquered  by  Moreau, 
and  the  treaty  of  The  Hague  (May  1795)  restored 
to  the  Belgian  provinces  most  of  the  districts 
lost  by  the  treaty  of  Miinster,  nearly  a  century 
and  a  half  before.  France  obtained  Zeeland 
Flanders  with  the  left  bank  of  the  Scheldt,  and, 
in  Limburg,  the  key  positions  of  Maestricht  and 
Venloo.  She  obtained,  besides,  the  right  to 
place  garrisons,  in  war-time,  in  Bois-le-Duc  and 
other  towns  of  North  Brabant.  Holland  was 
promised  compensation  in  Gelder. 

While    the    internal    policy    of    the    Republic 


2/2  BELGIUM 

was  veiled  in  so  much  ideology  and  marred  by 
tyrannous  cupidity,  its  foreign  policy  was  based 
on  sound  realism.  The  French  plenipotentiaries, 
like  Joseph  II,  but  far  more  clearly,  perceived 
that  the  possession  of  the  key  positions  on  the 
Scheldt  and  on  the  Meuse  was  essential  to  the 
security  of  the  country  and  to  its  commercial 
prosperity.  A  comparison  between  the  clauses 
of  the  treaty  of  The  Hague  and  of  the  treaty 
of  Miinster  is  particularly  enlightening.  Appar- 
ently, the  demands  of  the  French  were  moderate ; 
in  fact,  they  entirely  reversed  the  situation  created 
in  the  seventeenth  century.  No  wholesale  annexa- 
tions would  have  given  the  French  equivalent 
advantages.  The  choice  of  the  Republic  was 
dictated  by  sound  strategic  principles  and  deter- 
mined by  the  same  motives  as  had  guided  the 
Dutch  in  1648. 

But  the  Belgian  people,  suffering  from  all  the 
evils  of  foreign  occupation,  could  derive  but 
scant  satisfaction  from  the  restoration  of  the 
lost  districts.  The  Convention  was  waging  war 
on  the  world  and  bleeding  Belgium  white  in  order 
to  find  the  necessary  resources.  The  provinces 
were  obliged  to  pay  a  contribution  of  80,000,000 
francs,  amounting  to  six  times  the  previous  yearly 
budget.  Hostages  were  taken  from  the  towns 
which  could  not  contribute  their  share.  Requisi- 
tions of  all  raw  material  were  systematically 
organized.  Cambon  boasted  to  the  Convention 
that  the  Netherlands  not  only  provided  for  the 
upkeep  of  the  Republican  armies,  but  also  enriched 
the  national  treasury.  Under  the  management 
of  the  "  Agence  de  Commerce  et  d'Extraction  de 
la  Belgique,"  the  treasuries  of  churches,  con- 


REPUBLICAN  RULE 

vents,  corporations  and  municipalities  were 
carted  away,  together  with  pictures,  works  of  art 
and  industrial  machines.  The  Republican  agents, 
nicknamed  the  "  French  sponges,"  even  went 
as  far  as  plundering  private  property.  At  the 
same  time,  the  value  of  the  assignats  had  fallen 
to  a  ridiculously  low  level,  and  in  order  to  check 
the  corresponding  rise  in  prices  the  authorities 
had  fixed  a  "  maximum  "  and  obliged  the  traders 
to  keep  their  shops  open. 

All  Dumouriez's  promises  had  been  long  for- 
gotten and  no  account  whatever  was  taken  now 
of  the  wishes  of  the  population.  Old  charters 
were  destroyed  and  people  were  obliged  to  plant 
"  trees  of  liberty "  in  the  market-places.  The 
names  of  the  streets  were  altered,  the  use  of  the 
Republican  calendar  enforced  and  the  "  decadi  " 
(observance  of  the  tenth  day)  substituted  for 
Sunday.  Religious  festivals  were  replaced  by 
feasts  in  honour  of  "  Nature  "  or  "  Mankind," 
and  most  of  the  churches  were  closed  or  trans- 
formed into  barracks,  storehouses  or  temples 
devoted  to  the  worship  of  the  "  Supreme  Being." 
Finally,  in  1795,  a  proposal  was  made  to  the 
Committee  of  Public  Safety  to  annex  the  territory 
of  the  Austrian  Netherlands.  In  spite  of  a  few 
protests,  the  proposal  was  adopted  on  October  I, 
1795,  and  the  country  divided  into  nine  de- 
partments— Lys,  Escaut,  Deux  Nethes,  Meuse 
Infe"rieure,  Dyle,  Ourthe,  Jemappes,  Sambre  et 
Meuse  and  Forfits. 

The  regime  of  the  Directoire  was  equally  hate- 
ful to  the  Belgians,  who  derived  scant  benefit 
from  their  annexation.  The  Flemish  language  was 
proscribed  from  official  documents,  all  public 

18 


274  BELGIUM 

manifestations  of  Catholic  worship  were  forbidden, 
and  the  estates  of  religious  communities  con- 
fiscated. After  the  coup  d'etat  of  the  eighteenth 
Fructidor,  the  Directoire  exacted  from  every 
priest  an  oath  of  hatred  against  monarchy.  Most 
of  the  Belgian  priests  having  refused  to  take 
this  oath,  deportations  and  persecutions  followed. 
Many  churches  were  destroyed,  among  them  St. 
Lambert,  the  cathedral  of  Liege. 

By  the  treaty  of  Campo  Formio  (1797),  Francis 
II  submitted  to  the  annexation  of  the  Austrian 
Netherlands,  but  Great  Britain  refused  to  give 
up  the  fight,  faithful  to  her  traditional  policy, 
which  could  not  admit  the  presence  of  the  French 
on  the  Belgian  coast,  which  was  all  the  more 
threatening  now  that  they  held  the  left  bank 
of  the  Scheldt.  The  next  year  the  second  coali- 
tion was  formed,  and  the  Directoire  applied  to 
the  Belgian  departments  the  new  law  of  con- 
scription. 

Up  to  that  moment,  with  the  exception  of  the 
rising  avoided  by  Dumouriez,  the  Belgians  had 
not  attempted  to  rebel.  Exhausted  by  the 
Braban£onne  revolution,  divided  among  them- 
selves, they  had  merely  shown  a  passive  resis- 
tance to  Republican  propaganda  and  to  the  efforts 
made  by  their  masters  to  induce  them  to  take 
part  in  rationalistic  worship.  This  last  measure, 
however,  provoked  a  rising  among  the  peasantry. 
Many  young  men,  liable  to  conscription,  preferred 
to  die  fighting  for  their  liberty  than  for  the  French. 
The  movement  was  quite  desperate.  It  could 
expect  no  help  from  outside,  neither  could  it  be 
supported  by  the  nobles,  who  had  fled  the  country, 
or  by  the  high  clergy,  who  were  now  powerless. 


NAPOLEON  275 

The  peasants  were  assembled  in  the  villages,  at 
the  sound  of  the  tocsin,  wearing  their  working 
clothes  and  often  armed  only  with  clubs  or  forks. 
They  raided  small  towns  and  villages,  cut  down 
the  trees  of  liberty,  destroyed  the  registers  on 
which  the  conscription  lists  were  based  and 
molested  those  who  were  suspected  of  French 
sympathies.  The  rising,  begun  in  the  Pays  de 
Waes,  spread  to  Brabant,  and  especially  to  the 
Campine.  The  repression,  entrusted  to  General 
Jardon,  was  merciless.  Most  of  the  leaders  were 
shot  and  their  followers  dispersed  after  heavy 
losses. 

The  rule  of  Napoleon  restored  peace  to  the  Low 
Countries.  The  emperor  carried  the  war  far 
from  the  Belgian  frontiers.  The  United  Provinces 
had  become  a  vassal  kingdom,  under  the  sceptre 
of  Napoleon's  brother  Louis  (1806),  and,  with 
the  exception  of  a  British  landing  on  the  island 
of  Walcheren  which  miscarried  (1809),  the  Belgian 
provinces  were  spared  military  operations  up 
to  the  eve  of  the  fall  of  the  imperial  regime. 

In  spite  of  the  aversion  caused  by  incessant 
conscription  levies  and  by  the  strict  censorship 
which  stifled  intellectual  life,  the  Belgians  benefited 
largely  from  the  stern  rule  of  the  emperor,  who 
re-established  discipline  and  succeeded  in  sub- 
stituting many  Belgian  notables  for  the  French 
officials  who  had,  up  to  then,  governed  the  country. 
Prefects  were  placed  at  the  head  of  the  depart- 
ments, which  were  divided  into  arrondissements 
and  municipalities,  each  of  these  divisions  possess- 
ing its  own  councils  and  its  own  courts  :  justices 
of  the  peace,  courts  of  the  first  instance,  courts 
of  assize  with  a  jury,  above  which  were  installed 


276  BELGIUM 

Courts  of  Appeal  and  a  Court  of  Cassation.  A 
"  general  code  of  simple  laws,"  still  known  as 
the  Code  Napoleon,  was  substituted,  in  1804, 
for  the  confused  and  intricate  customs  and  laws 
preserved  from  the  Middle  Ages,  and  the  fiscal 
methods  were  similarly  transformed,  inaugurating 
a  system  of  direct  and  indirect  taxes. 

The  Concordat,  signed  in  1801,  re-established 
religious  peace,  Catholicism  being  recognized  as 
the  State  religion.  Churches  were  reopened  and 
the  observance  of  Sunday  re-established. 

Already,  as  First  Consul,  Napoleon  devoted 
great  attention  to  external  trade.  Ostend,  which 
had  been  bombarded  by  the  British  in  1798, 
was  restored,  and  after  the  peace  of  Amiens 
Antwerp  enjoyed  a  few  years  of  remarkable 
prosperity.  In  1802,  969  ships  entered  the  port ; 
in  1803  the  customs  receipts  rose  to  over  6,000,000 
francs,  in  1804  to  over  8,000,000,  and  in  1805 
to  over  15,000,000.  But  the  emperor's  decree  of 
November  21,  1806,  establishing  the  Continental 
blockade,  after  the  Battle  of  Trafalgar,  converted 
Antwerp  into  a  powerful  naval  base  and  a  great 
centre  of  naval  dockyards,  without  any  benefit 
to  the  rest  of  the  country.  The  activity  of  the 
nation  was  again  confined  to  agriculture  and 
industry.  In  this  latter  domain  the  period  is 
marked  by  the  introduction  of  spinning  machin- 
ery by  the  Gantois  Lievin  Bauwens,  who  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  models  of  the  new  British 
jennies.  This  was  the  origin  of  the  prosperity 
of  Ghent.  While,  in  1802,  only  220  persons  were 
employed  in  this  industry,  there  were  over  10,000 
in  1810.  Another  innovation  was  brought  about 
by  a  British  engineer,  William  Cockerill,  who, 


WATERLOO  277 

in  1799,  initiated  the  use  of  new  carding  and 
spinning  machines  in  Venders.  Many  French 
cloth  manufacturers  were  sent  to  the  Walloon 
town  by  the  French  Government  in  order  to  study 
the  new  process. 

There  are  no  periods  of  Belgian  history  where 
intellectual  and  artistic  production  reached  such 
a  low  level  as  under  the  Napoleonic  regime. 
How  could  it  be  otherwise  at  a  time  when  official 
patronage  directed  every  activity  towards  imperial 
worship  ?  In  France,  such  worship,  stimulated 
by  brilliant  victories,  might  have  inspired  some 
sincere  manifestations,  but  in  Belgium,  where 
the  people  submitted  to  the  French  regime  only 
as  to  a  necessary  evil,  military  glory  could  not 
provoke  any  genuine  enthusiasm.  It  was  more 
than  compensated  for  by  conscription  and  arbitrary 
imprisonments.  According  to  La  Tour  du  Pain, 
prefect  of  the  Dyle,  the  Belgians  were  "  neither 
English,  nor  Austrian,  nor  anti-French — they 
were  Belgian."  In  the  way  of  administration 
and  judicial  organization,  they  learnt  their  lesson, 
but  it  was  a  distasteful  lesson.  They  were  too 
wise  to  disregard  the  benefit  which  they  might 
derive  from  the  simplification  of  procedure  brought 
about  by  the  reforms,  and  they  remembered  them 
at  the  right  time,  but  they  remained  stubbornly 
hostile  to  a  foreign  domination  which  could  not 
be  supported  by  any  dynastic  loyalism,  and  most 
of  them  greeted  with  enthusiasm  the  arrival 
of  the  allied  armies  which  penetrated  into  the 
country  in  January  1814,  after  the  battle  of  Leipzig. 
This  enthusiasm  was  considerably  cooled  by  the 
time  of  Waterloo,  when  it  was  known  that,  in 
order  to  constitute  a  powerful  State  on  the  nor- 


2/8  BELGIUM 

them  frontiers  of  France  and  to  reward  William 
of  Orange  for  his  services  to  the  allied  cause, 
Belgium's  destinies  would  henceforth  be  linked 
with  those  of  the  Northern  provinces.  This 
decision,  already  declared  in  the  secret  protocol 
of  London,  was  confirmed  by  the  Congress  of 
Vienna.  From  August  i,  1814,  the  Prince  of 
Orange  administered  the  Southern  provinces  on 
behalf  of  the  Powers. 


UNITED   KINGDOM   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS. 


CHAPTER   XXIV 

BLACK,   YELLOW  AND   RED 

THE  Vienna  settlement,  creating  the  joint  kingdom 
of  the  Netherlands,  suited  the  Powers  which  made 
it.  It  suited  England,  since  it  placed  the  Belgian 
provinces,  and  especially  Antwerp,  out  of  the 
reach  of  France.  It  suited  Prussia,  which  ac- 
quired a  strong  foothold  on  the  plateaux  command- 
ing the  Meuse  and  the  right  to  interfere  in  the 
affairs  of  Luxemburg.  It  suited  Holland,  whose 
position  was  considerably  strengthened  by  the 
addition  of  rich  and  populous  provinces.  It 
suited  Austria  and  Russia,  since  it  created  a 
strong  buffer  State  acting  as  a  bulwark  against 
French  annexionism  in  the  North.  It  suited 
everybody  but  the  Belgians  themselves,  who 
had  never  been  consulted,  in  spite  of  their  desire 
to  be  independent,  made  evident  by  the  Bra- 
banconne  Revolution  and  their  attitude  under 
the  French  regime.  They  had  been  disposed  of 
as  being  without  legitimate  owner,  and  if  the  idea 
of  granting  them  the  right  to  rule  themselves 
ever  occurred  to  European  diplomacy  at  the 
time,  it  was  promptly  dismissed,  under  the  assump- 
tion that  Belgian  independence  meant,  sooner 
or  later,  reabsorption  by  France. 

The  project  of  reuniting  Belgium  and  Holland 
affords  an  excellent  example  of  a  scheme  plausible 
enough  on  paper,  but  which  could  not  resist  the 
test  of  reality.  It  not  only  seemed  sound  from 

279 


28O  BELGIUM 

the  Powers'  selfish  point  of  view,  it  ought  to  have 
worked  for  the  common  benefit  of  Belgians  and 
Dutch  alike.  An  end  was  made  to  the  bitter 
struggle  waged  by  Holland  against  the  Southern 
provinces.  The  commerce  of  Antwerp  ceased  to 
threaten  the  Dutch  ports,  the  Scheldt  was  open, 
the  commercial  blockade  lifted  at  last,  and  Bel- 
gian trade  able  to  regain  its  former  importance 
after  two  centuries  of  stagnation.  Belgium  must 
benefit  from  the  association  with  a  strong  maritime 
Power,  possessing  rich  colonies  and  a  limitless 
capacity  for  expansion.  Holland's  prosperity,  on 
the  other  hand,  must  be  largely  increased  through 
the  agricultural  and  industrial  resources  of  the 
Southern  provinces.  Even  from  a  purely  historical 
point  of  view  the  idea  of  reconstituting  the  Bur- 
gundian  Netherlands  must  have  appealed  to  those 
who  had  preserved  the  memory  of  their  former 
grandeur.  This  was  not  a  mere  inert  buffer  State  : 
it  might  become  the  strong  central  nation  which 
European  balance  of  power  so  urgently  required, 
since  the  Renaissance,  to  relieve  the  tension  of 
Franco-British  or  Franco- Prussian  relations.  Thus 
could  be  bridged  the  gap  created,  during  two 
centuries,  by  the  religious  wars.  The  old  tradition 
of  Philip  the  Good  and  Charles  V  was  to  be 
renewed,  and  the  Netherlands  to  take  once 
more  their  rank  at  the  outposts  of  European 
civilization. 

And,  indeed,  under  exceptionally  favourable 
conditions,  sound  union,  if  not  "  complete  and 
intimate  fusion,"  could  have  been  the  outcome 
of  this  bold  experiment.  Had  the  Powers  for- 
mally recognized  Belgian  nationality  and  provided 
for  the  respect  of  the  country's  institutions  under 


THE  JOINT  KINGDOM  28 1 

the  new  regime,  the  Belgians  might  have  recon- 
ciled themselves  to  the  idea  of  wiping  away 
past  grievances.  The  Dutch  might  have  justi- 
fied their  attitude  under  the  plea  that  they  had 
not  been  fighting  Belgium,  but  Spain  or  France, 
and  that  their  policy  had  been  dictated  by  the 
necessity  in  which  they  had  been  placed  of 
defending  themselves  against  foreign  invasion. 
William  I  might  have  conciliated  public  opinion 
in  Belgium  by  respecting  scrupulously  the  country's 
customs,  which  had  survived  Spanish  and  Austrian 
domination,  by  avoiding  all  undue  interference 
in  religious  affairs,  by  protecting  the  rights  of 
the  French-speaking  minority  and  by  placing 
the  Belgians  exactly  on  the  same  footing  as  the 
Dutch.  In  fact,  his  policy  aimed  at  achieving 
the  complete  and  intimate  assimilation  advised  at 
Vienna  from  the  Dutch  point  of  view  and  without 
any  consideration  for  the  natural  feeling  of  a 
people  whose  traditions  and  religion  were  different 
from  his  own. 

The  new  Constitution  was  the  Dutch  Constitu- 
tion adopted  in  1814,  revised  by  a  commission 
including  an  equal  number  of  Belgian  and  Dutch 
delegates.  It  provided  for  equal  toleration  for 
all  creeds  and  a  two  Chamber  Parliament  where 
an  equal  number  of  deputies  from  both  countries 
would  sit.  (This  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  Belgium 
had  50  per  cent,  more  inhabitants  than  Holland.) 
This  Constitution  or  "  fundamental  law,"  as  it 
was  called,  was  adopted  by  the  Dutch,  but  rejected 
by  the  Belgian  States  General.  Instead  of  amend- 
ing the  law,  the  king  considered  abstentions  as 
favourable  votes  and  ignored  all  opposition,  so 
that  the  new  Constitution  was  passed,  in  spite  of  a 


282  BELGIUM 

strong  adverse  majority.  This  singular  procedure 
was  called,  at  the  time,  "  Dutch  arithmetic." 

In  several  aspects,  the  policy  of  William  I 
resembled  that  pursued  thirty  years  before  by 
Joseph  II.  It  had  the  same  qualities  and  the 
same  defects.  Though  taking  into  consideration 
the  material  interests  of  the  people,  he  ignored 
their  character  and  traditions  and  the  psycho- 
logical problems  with  which  he  was  confronted. 
Faced  with  opposition,  he  attempted  to  override 
all  resistance  by  asserting  his  sovereign  will,  with 
little  consideration  for  the  democratic  spirit 
which  pervaded  Western  Europe  at  the  time. 

Like  Joseph  II,  William  I,  very  wisely,  attached 
great  importance  to  the  economic  revival  of  the 
country.  The  embargo  once  removed,  Antwerp 
made  surprising  progress,  its  tonnage  being 
increased  twofold  between  1818  and  1829.  New 
canals  were  built  between  Maestricht  and  Bois- 
le-Duc,  Pommeroeul  and  Antoing,  while  through 
the  creation  of  powerful  banks,  such  as  the  "  Societe 
generate  pour  favoriser  Tlndustrie  nationale," 
Belgian  manufacturers  received  adequate  credits. 
The  king  supported,  also,  the  creation  of  several 
factories,  such  as  the  "  Phoenix  "  at  Ghent  and 
"  Cockerill  "  at  Seraing.  It  was  during  his  reign 
that  Belgian  collieries  began  considerably  to 
increase  their  production  and  that  the  first  blast 
furnaces  were  erected  near  Liege  and  Charleroi. 

The  Dutch  king  attempted  also  to  develop 
national  education.  He  placed  the  three  Uni- 
versities (Ghent,  Louvain  and  Liege)  under  State 
control.  Many  secondary  and  primary  schools 
were  founded  all  over  the  country  and  public 
instruction  made  considerable  progress. 


POLICY  OF    WILLIAM  I  283 

Such  measures  would  have  been  beneficial  to 
Belgium,  but  they  needed  a  deep  knowledge 
of  and  sympathy  for  local  conditions  to  be  carried 
out  successfully.  Neither  the  king  nor  his  Dutch 
ministers  (the  Belgians  remained  always  in  a 
minority  in  the  Cabinet)  were  able  to  realize 
the  difficulties  which  stood  in  the  way  and  the 
legitimate  grievances  which  might  easily  be 
created  by  hasty  action. 

When  Holland  entered  the  union,  she  had  a 
debt  of  nearly  2,000,000,000  florins,  while  Belgium's 
debt  was  much  smaller  (30,000,000).  The  latter 
was,  nevertheless,  obliged  to  bear  half  of  the 
total  liabilities  and  the  heavy  taxes  rendered 
necessary  by  the  king's  enterprising  policy.  Be- 
sides, in  the  distribution  of  such  taxes  the  interests 
of  Belgium,  still  almost  entirely  agricultural, 
were  sacrificed  to  those  of  commercial  Holland. 
The  latter  stood  for  free  trade,  the  former  for 
protection.  It  is  characteristic  of  the  situation 
that  the  first  sharp  conflict  between  Belgian  and 
Dutch  deputies  took  place  in  1821  over  a  bill 
imposing  taxes  on  the  grinding  of  corn  and  the 
slaughter  of  cattle.  These  immediate  grievances 
overshadowed,  in  the  minds  of  the  Belgians,  the 
encouragement  given  by  the  Government  to 
Belgian  trade  and  industry. 

A  similar  disregard  for  existing  conditions  and 
long-established  traditions  brought  about  the 
failure  of  the  measures  taken  by  William  I  to 
promote  education.  Not  content  with  creating 
new  schools,  he  endeavoured  to  give  the  monopoly 
of  public  education  to  the  State  and  to  subject 
the  existing  private  establishments  (almost  all  led 
by  priests)  to  official  control.  He  further  increased 


284  BELGIUM 

Catholic  opposition  by  establishing  a  Philosophical 
College  at  Louvain,  where  all  those  intending  to 
enter  a  seminary  were  obliged  to  study. 

These  examples  show  how  premature  was  the 
idea  of  a  "  complete  union "  between  the  two 
countries — an  idea  put  forward,  no  doubt,  owing 
to  the  necessity  of  creating  a  strong  centralized 
State  on  the  northern  boundary  of  France.  Had 
the  Dutch  Government  possessed  as  much  political 
wisdom  as  the  Austrian  Minister  at  the  court  of  The 
Hague,  they  would  have  realized  that  the  "  kingdom 
of  the  Netherlands  would  never  be  consolidated  as 
long  as  the  constitutional  and  administrative  union 
was  not  replaced  by  a  federal  system." 

The  same  solution  might  have  avoided  a  great 
deal  of  discontent  with  regard  to  the  language 
question.  The  difference  of  language  between 
Northern  and  Southern  Belgium  had  created  no 
difficulty  in  the  last  centuries,  owing  to  the  fact 
that  the  country  was  nearly  equally  divided,  and 
also  that  the  Northern  provinces  were  bilingual, 
French  being  used  by  the  bourgeoisie  and 
Flemish  by  the  people.  The  union  with  Holland 
placed  the  French-speaking  population  in  a 
minority.  On  the  other  hand,  twenty  years  of 
French  occupation  had  left  their  mark  on  the 
country,  and  the  prestige  of  French  letters  had 
never  been  so  brilliant.  It  seemed,  therefore, 
urgent  to  display  a  great  deal  of  tact  in  any  reform 
dealing  with  the  language  question,  in  order  not 
to  encourage  pro- French  tendencies  at  the  expense 
of  Dutch  sympathy.  The  idea  of  introducing 
Dutch  as  the  official  language  in  Flemish-speak- 
ing Belgium  seemed  wise  enough,  since  it  was 
the  language  understood  by  the  great  majority 


BELGIAN  GRIEVANCES  285 

of  the  people,  but  there  was  no  urgent  demand 
for  it,  and  it  could  have  been  realized  progressively 
with  the  development  of  Flemish  education. 
King  William,  nevertheless,  decreed  that  no 
officials  or  civil  servants  should  remain  in  office 
in  Northern  Belgium  unless  they  spoke  and  wrote 
Dutch  correctly.  Since  a  great  many  of  these 
officials  belonged  to  the  Flemish  bourgeoisie 
and  had  only  a  very  incomplete  knowledge  of 
the  popular  language,  they  were  obliged  to  resign 
their  posts  and  were  supplanted  by  Dutchmen. 
So  that  a  measure  which  might  have  been  popular 
in  Flanders,  at  another  time  and  under  different 
circumstances,  was  considered  as  a  mere  pretext 
for  turning  Belgian  subjects  out  of  office. 

It  must  be  made  clear  that  this  language  question 
played  a  secondary  part  among  the  causes  of  dis- 
content. It  alienated  the  Flemish  bourgeoisie  with- 
out conciliating  the  working  classes,  whose  influence 
in  politics,  at  the  time,  was  very  small.  It  scarcely 
affected  the  French-speaking  population,  since 
only  few  Walloon  officials  were  concerned  in  the 
matter. 

Scorning  all  opposition,  William  I  had  not 
even  attempted  to  conciliate  one  of  the  two 
great  parties  which  divided  the  Belgian  popula- 
tion :  the  conservative  Catholics  and  the  Liberals, 
advocates  of  the  "  Rights  of  Man  "  and  opposed 
to  the  influence  of  the  Church.  He  had  alienated 
the  first  by  his  attempt  to  monopolize  education 
and  the  second  by  the  autocratic  manner  in  which 
he  suppressed  all  opposition.  The  prosecution 
against  a  Liberal  journalist,  De  Potter,  who  attacked 
the  Government's  policy  in  Le  Courrier  des  Pays 
Bas,  brought  about  the  reconciliation  of  the  two 


286  BELGIUM 

parties  against  the  common  enemy,  in  1828, 
just  as  the  harsh  attitude  of  Joseph  II  had 
caused  the  alliance  of  Van  der  Noot  and  Vonck 
on  the  eve  of  the  Brabangonne  Revolution.  From 
anti- Government,  the  movement  became  gradually 
anti-Dutch,  and  party  grievances  were  henceforth 
merged  into  a  revival  of  patriotic  feeling,  aiming 
first  at  administrative  separation  and  later  at 
complete  independence. 

The  final  outburst  was  no  doubt  hastened  by 
the  1830  Revolution  in  France,  when  the  legitimist 
dynasty  was  overthrown  in  favour  of  Louis 
Philippe  d' Orleans,  just  as  the  taking  of  the  Bastille 
determined  a  corresponding  movement  in  Belgium 
against  Austrian  rule.  But  nothing  could  be 
more  misleading  than  to  attribute  to  French 
influence  the  popular  demonstration  which  took 
place  in  Brussels,  on  August  25th,  following  a 
performance  of  Auber's  Muette  de  Portici  at  the 
Monnaie  Theatre.  The  song  which  stirred  such 
wild  enthusiasm  in  the  breasts  of  the  Brussels 
people  was  purely  patriotic,  and  it  was  to  defend 
the  rights  of  their  country  that  they  sacked  the 
house  of  Van  Maenen,  King  William's  unpopular 
minister,  and  the  offices  of  Le  National,  whose 
director,  a  French  pamphleteer  named  Libri, 
was  looked  upon  as  a  Dutch  agent.  It  is  true 
that  the  French  flag  was  for  a  short  time  hoisted 
at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  but  it  was  soon  replaced 
by  the  three  colours  of  Brabant. 

French  influences  had  been  at  work,  but  the 
French  party  remained  a  small  minority.  Every 
act  of  the  leaders  of  the  revolution  shows  that 
they  were  bent  on  obtaining  first  administrative 
separation,  and  later,  after  such  a  proposal  had 


THE  SEPTEMBER  DAYS  2&? 

been  made  impossible  through  the  king's  stubborn 
attitude,  complete  independence.  Never  did  the 
idea  of  a  union  with  France  commend  itself  to 
the  people.  From  Brussels,  standing  on  the 
language  frontier,  the  revolution  spread  to  Walloon 
Liege  and  Flemish  Louvain.  Most  of  the  important 
towns,  with  the  exception  of  Ghent  and  Antwerp, 
joined  in  the  movement  in  both  parts  of  the 
country.  The  Prince  of  Orange,  whose  popularity 
was  used  in  order  to  calm  the  multitude,  came  to 
visit  Brussels,  but,  unable  to  make  any  definite 
promise,  he  was  obliged  to  fly  from  the  city. 

Even  at  that  last  hour,  the  joint  kingdom  of 
the  Netherlands  might  have  been  saved,  since 
the  most  enthusiastic  leaders,  like  Gendebien, 
only  urged  autonomy  ;  but  King  William  remained 
deaf  to  all  advice  of  moderation  and  sent  a  Dutch 
army  of  12,000  men  against  Brussels  under 
Prince  Frederick.  The  revolutionary  leaders  had 
preserved  but  small  hope,  owing  to  the  unprepared- 
ness  of  the  defence.  The  Belgian  success  in  the 
street-fighting  which  took  place  near  the  Rue 
Royale  and  the  adjoining  streets  was  nothing 
short  of  a  miracle.  After  three  days,  Prince 
Frederick  was  obliged  to  leave  the  town,  leaving 
2,500  dead  behind  him  ;  but  the  losses  on  the 
Belgian  side  had  also  been  heavy,  and  all  recon- 
ciliation had  become  impossible.  A  provisional 
Government  was  formed,  a  National  Congress 
summoned,  the  complete  independence  of  the 
country  proclaimed  and  a  new  Constitution  pre- 
pared, a  special  commission  adopting  the  principle 
of  constitutional  monarchy  (October  4th). 

Meanwhile,  the  few  towns,  including  Ghent 
and  Antwerp,  which  had  not  already  done  so 


288  BELGIUM 

expelled  their  garrisons,  the  citadel  of  Antwerp 
alone  remaining  in  Dutch  hands. 

The  fascinating  scheme  endorsed  by  the  Vienna 
Congress  had  completely  miscarried.  Though 
only  a  ruler  of  great  political  talent  could  have 
realized  it,  the  story  of  the  fifteen  years  of  union 
between  the  two  countries  shows  that  the  king 
and  his  Dutch  ministers  were  unable  to  master 
the  very  elements  of  the  difficult  proposition 
they  had  to  solve.  Up  to  the  last  months  several 
opportunities  offered  themselves  to  them  of  re- 
tracing their  steps  and  retrieving  the  situation. 
They  failed  to  seize  them.  A  careful  survey  of 
events  will  show  that  the  action  brought  against 
De  Potter  and  the  choice  of  The  Hague  as  the  seat 
of  the  Supreme  Court  did  more  to  estrange  the 
Belgian  bourgeoisie  from  Dutch  rule  than  the 
activity  of  French  propagandists.  The  initial 
blunder  of  William  I  was  to  ignore  the  fact  that 
Belgium  was  not  merely  a  group  of  ownerless 
provinces,  but  a  nation  as  strong  in  her  soul, 
if  not  as  happy  in  her  fate,  as  the  Dutch  nation, 
deserving  the  same  care  and  the  same  considera- 
tion. Had  he  acted  as  a  national  prince  he  would 
have  succeeded,  in  spite  of  the  sad  memories  of 
past  oppression,  as  many  princes  had  succeeded 
before.  But  he  remained  essentially  Dutch  in 
his  manners  and  his  political  outlook,  and  as 
such  he  was  bound  to  fail,  as  Joseph  II,  Maximilian 
and  Philip  II  had  failed  before  him. 


!  7 


CHAPTER    XXV 

THE   SCRAP  OF  PAPER 

HAVING  failed  to  repress  the  revolution,  King 
William  appealed  to  the  Powers  signatories  of 
the  eight  articles  creating  the  joint  kingdom. 
Lord  Aberdeen  answered  that  the  independence  of 
the  Belgians  was  an  accomplished  fact,  but  a  Con- 
ference was,  nevertheless,  called  in  London,  in  order 
to  mediate  between  the  two  parties,  to  which  France 
was  invited  to  send  a  representative.  On  Novem- 
ber 14,  1830,  the  conditions  of  an  armistice  were 
settled,  according  to  which  both  belligerents  were 
to  withdraw  their  forces  behind  the  frontier  which 
divided  the  two  countries  before  their  reunion 
in  1814. 

This  arrangement  would  have  restored  to 
Belgium  the  left  bank  of  the  Scheldt,  which  she 
had  lost  since  the  Miinster  treaty.  The  Dutch 
king  protested,  and  the  line  was  altered  from 
the  frontier  of  1814  to  that  of  1790 — that  is  to 
say,  five  years  before  the  annexation  by  the 
French  of  the  contested  territory. 

Throughout  the  negotiations  the  autocratic 
Powers — Prussia,  Austria  and  Russia — were  op- 
posed to  the  Belgians.  They  treated  them  as 
rebels  who  ought  to  be  only  too  happy  to  buy 
their  independence  at  any  price.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  if  the  same  wave  of  nationalism  which 
had  stirred  Belgium  had  not,  at  the  same  time, 
caused  serious  trouble  in  Poland  and  Italy,  it 

19  '89 


290  BELGIUM 

is  doubtful  whether  England  and  France  could 
have  induced  the  Conference  to  accept  even  the 
principle  of  Belgian  independence.  But,  owing 
to  their  internal  troubles,  both  Russia  and  Austria 
were  disinclined  to  take  action,  and  Prussia 
would  have  found  herself  isolated  if  she  had 
maintained  an  uncompromising  attitude. 

The  Belgians,  on  the  other  hand,  from  the  very 
beginning  of  the  negotiations,  placed  themselves 
on  an  equal  footing  with  Holland,  and  considered 
the  Conference  as  a  mediator,  not  as  an  arbiter. 
They  gratefully  accepted  its  intervention  as 
"  prompted  by  feelings  of  sympathy  for  the  suffer- 
ings of  Belgium  and  by  humanitarian  motives," 
but  refused  energetically  to  bind  themselves  by 
any  engagement.  When,  on  December  20th, 
Belgian  independence  was  finally  recognized,  the 
Provisory  Government  remarked  that  "  the 
balance  of  power  in  Europe  can  still  be  ensured, 
and  a  general  peace  maintained,  by  making 
Belgium  independent,  strong  and  happy.  If 
Belgium  were  to  be  left  without  strength  and  hap- 
piness, the  new  arrangement  would  be  threatened 
with  the  same  fate  as  that  of  the  political  com- 
bination of  1815.  Independent  Belgium  has  her 
share  of  European  duties  to  fulfil,  but  it  would 
be  difficult  to  conceive  what  obligations  could  be 
imposed  upon  her  by  treaties  in  the  conclusion 
of  which  she  had  no  voice." 

Such  a  complete  consciousness  of  their  national 
rights  on  the  part  of  the  Belgian  plenipotentiaries 
can  only  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  such 
consciousness  had  never  ceased  to  exist.  This 
was  no  new  nation  struggling  for  its  birth,  but  an 
old  nation,  as  old  as  any  of  those  who  had  assumed 


THE  LONDON  CONFERENCE  2QI 

the  responsibility  of  planning  her  future.  The 
Belgian  statesmen  of  1830  had  nothing  to  improvise. 
They  had  merely  to  pick  up  the  threads  broken 
through  the  vicissitudes  of  European  struggle. 
Their  new  Constitution  was  based  on  the  old 
Joyous  Entry  of  Brabant,  which  Joseph  II 
had  vainly  attempted  to  abolish,  and  whose 
memory  forty  years  of  French  and  Dutch  central- 
ization had  not  succeeded  in  obliterating.  Their 
foreign  policy  was,  in  the  same  way,  inspired  by 
a  firm  attachment  to  their  past  and  a  firmer 
belief  in  their  future.  The  London  Conference 
was  not  long  in  realizing,  when  faced  by  such 
men  as  Lebeau,  Van  de  Weyer  and  De  Merode, 
that  they  had  not  merely  to  deal  with  vague 
idealists  or  eloquent  demagogues.  It  is  not 
enough  to  say  that  Belgium  was  well  represented. 
It  would  be  more  accurate  to  say  that  her 
delegates  had  a  good  case  to  defend. 

Three  treaties  were  prepared  by  the  London 
Conference  in  the  course  of  the  negotiations. 
The  first  included  a  series  of  conditions  formu- 
lated in  January  1831  and  known  as  "  Bases 
of  Separation."  The  second  was  the  outcome 
of  new  negotiations  which  took  place  during  the 
following  months,  and  is  known  as  "  the  Treaty 
of  XVIII  Articles"  (July  1831).  The  third, 
framed  after  the  defeat  of  the  Belgian  troops 
by  the  Dutch  and  the  military  and  naval  inter- 
vention of  the  Powers,  is  known  as  "  the  Treaty 
of  XXIV  Articles  "  (November  1831).  Accepted 
by  the  Belgians,  it  was  first  rejected  by  William  I, 
and  finally  sanctioned  by  him  in  1839.  This 
is  the  final  settlement  which  popular  history 
will  remember  as  the  "  scrap  of  paper." 


292  BELGIUM 

According  to  the  Bases  of  Separation,  Belgium 
lost  the  left  bank  of  the  Scheldt,  but  this  stream 
was  to  remain  entirely  free.  She  also  lost  Jjixem- 
burg,  which  "  would  continue  to  belong  to  the 
German  Confederation." 

It  will  be  remembered  that,  under  the  treaty 
of  Vienna,  this  Belgian  province  had  been  con- 
verted into  a  .Grajicl  Jhichy  and  given  to  King 
William,  in  exchange  for  his  possessions  in  Ger- 
many, but  the.Jdng-had  declared,  at  the  time,  that 
trie"r*tjf  and  Duchy  would  be  considered  as  an  Inte- 
gral part  of  the~SJate/'  Accordingly,  Luxemburg 
shared  the  political  life  of  the  rest  of  the  kingdom, 
sending  deputies  to  the  Chambers  and  being, 
from  every  point  of  view,  considered  as  a  Belgian 
province.  Luxemburgers  had  even  taken  a  pro- 
minent part'  in  the  revolutionary  movement. 
One  of  them  remarked  in  Congress,  during  the 
debate  which  followed  the  Conference  resolutions, 
that  "  national  sovereignty  was  transferred  from 
Brussels  to  the  Foreign  Office,"  and  by  an  over- 
whelming majority  (169  against  9)  the  Congress 
protested  against  any  delimitation  of  Belgian 
territory  made  without  the  consent  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  nation. 

A  period  of  acute  tension  followed  this  refusal. 
King  William  had  not  raised  the  blockade  of  the 
Scheldt,  in  spite  of  the  conditions  of  the  armistice, 
and  the  Belgians  consequently  continued  their 
military  operations  in  front  of  Maestricht,  which 
had  not  yet  been  evacuated.  The  Conference 
urged  cessation  of  hostilities  and  prompt  accept- 
ance. The  Government  remaining  obdurate,  an 
ultimatum  was  sent  fixing  June  ist  as  the  last 
date  on  which  the  Belgians  had  to  submit  and 


LEOPOLD  i.  (REIGNED  1831-1865). 

From  a  portrait  by  Lievin  de  Winne. 


Ph.  B. 


BASES   OF  SEPARATION 

threatening  military  intervention.  On  June  6th, 
Lord  Ponsonby,  British  representative  at  Brussels, 
and  General  Belliard,  the  French  representative, 
were  formally  recalled  by  their  respective  Govern- 
ments, but  the  action  of  the  Powers  was  delayed 
owing  to  differences  of  opinion  concerning  the 
method  of  intervention.  This  allowed  Belgium 
some  time  to  reopen  negotiations,  and  her  delegates 
in  London  finally  obtained  the  revision  of  the 
"  Bases  of  Separation."  A  new  agreement  was 
drafted,  on  June  26th,  known  as  "  the  Treaty  of 
XVIII  Articles,"  according  to  which  Belgium 
became  permanently  neutral,  while  the  questions 
of  Luxemburg  and  Maestricht  remained  in  abey- 
ance, further  negotiations  concerning  the  contested 
territories  having  to  be  pursued  direct  between 
Belgium  and  Holland. 

This  diplomatic  success  was  not  only  due  to 
the  perseverance  of  the  Belgian  delegates  but 
also  to  Prince  Leopold's  wise  decision  not  to 
accept  the  crown  unless  a  satisfactory  solution 
was  reached.  It  must  be  recalled  that,  as 
soon  as  the  Belgian  Congress  had  decided  on 
constitutional  monarchy,  the  names  of  several 
candidates  had  been  discussed.  The  conservative 
Powers  favoured  the  candidature  of  the  Prince 
of  Orange,  hoping  thus  to  restore  in  the  future 
the  union  of  the  two  countries.  But  this  pro- 
posal had  met  with  an  overwhelming  opposition 
in  Belgium.  The  candidature  of  the  Duke  of 
Nemours,  son  of  Louis  Philippe,  had  then  been 
considered,  and  by  a  narrow  majority  of  two 
votes  the  Belgian  Congress  decided  in  his  favour. 
Such  a  choice  could  not  be  approved  in  England, 
since  it  would  have  meant,  sooner  or  later,  French 


294  BELGIUM 

hegemony  over  the  Belgian  coast  and  Antwerp. 
Louis  Philippe,  therefore,  refused  the  Belgian 
offer.  Prince  Leopold  of  Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, 
widower  of  Princess  Charlotte,  was  practically 
an  English  Prince,  having  spent  most  of  his 
life  in  England  ;  he  was  of  German  extraction, 
and  a  marriage  was  contemplated  between  him 
and  Princess  Marie  Louise,  Louis  Philippe's 
daughter.  He  had  already  acquired  a  great  repu- 
tation for  wisdom,  which  gained  him  later  the  title 
of  the  "  Nestor  of  Europe."  It  was  felt  that  no 
better  man  could  be  found  to  fill  such  a  delicate 
post,  and  both  English  and  French  diplomats 
were  inclined  to  remove  all  obstacles  which  might 
prevent  him  from  accepting  the  Belgian  offer. 

The  Prince's  influence  and  the  Belgian  diplo- 
mats' firm  attitude  succeeded  in  altering  the 
Conference's  views.  The  Belgians  were  no  longer 
treated  as  rebels  and  ordered  to  submit,  but  as 
free  people  whose  claims  must  be  considered. 
"  Everybody  says,"  wrote  Lord  Palmerston  to 
Lord  Granville,  "  that  the  Belgians  are  mad 
and  that  it  is  useless  to  discuss  with  them.  I 
have  noticed  that  there  is  a  good  deal  of  method 
in  their  madness."  Talleyrand,  who  was  not 
too  well  disposed  towards  the  Belgian  emissaries 
and  "  their  reticences,"  wrote  on  June  24th : 
"  We  have  been  in  conference  for  forty  hours,  but 
the  Belgian  delegates  are  so  little  accustomed 
to  this  kind  of  negotiations,  they  create  so  many 
difficulties,  that  we  cannot  get  on  and  I  am  tired 
out.  A  conference  took  place  to-day  at  Prince 
Leopold's  ;  it  lasted  until  eight.  It  will  continue  at 
my  house  and  last  probably  till  late  in  the  night." 
The  next  day,  the  XVIII  Articles  were  signed. 


THE  XXIV  ARTICLES  2g$ 

Prince  Leopold  having  accepted  the  crown, 
the  new  treaty  was  sanctioned  by  the  Belgian 
Congress  on  July  Qth.  Less  than  a  month  later, 
on  August  2nd,  the  Dutch  armies,  breaking  the 
armistice,  invaded  Belgian  territory  and  defeated 
the  Belgian  forces  at  Louvain.  Owing  to  the 
armed  intervention  both  of  England  and  France, 
the  Dutch  were  forced  to  retreat,  but  these  mili- 
tary operations  had  set  the  seal  on  Belgian  hopes. 

The  Powers  were  now  "  firmly  determined  to 
stop,  by  all  available  means,  the  resumption  of 
hostilities  which  would  threaten  Europe  with 
a  general  war,"  and,  on  November  I5th,  King 
Leopold  was  obliged  to  accept,  under  strong 
protest,  a  new  agreement,  known  as  "  the  Treaty 
of  XXIV  Articles,"  which,  though  preserving  the 
country's  independence  and  neutrality,  deprived 
her  of  her  natural  frontiers  and  tore  from  her 
territories  whose  inhabitants  had  shared  her 
life  since  the  early  Middle  Ages.  The  Scheldt 
was  given  the  status  of  an  international  river, 
according  to  the  General  Act  of  Vienna,  the 
supervision  of  pilotage,  buoying  and  dredging 
operations  being  entrusted  to  a  Dutch-Belgian  com- 
mission. Belgium  retained  half  of  Luxemburg  (the 
area  known  to-day  as  the  province  of  Luxemburg), 
while  the  other  half,  with  the  town  of  Luxemburg, 
remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Dutch  king,  and 
constituted  a  Grand  Duchy  attached  to  the  German 
Confederation.  "  In  exchange  "  for  their  portion 
of  Luxemburg,  the  Belgians  were  obliged  to  relin- 
quish their  rights  over  Eastern  Limburg  and 
Maestricht,  which  became  the  Dutch  provinces 
of  the  same  name.  Such  were  the  "  final  and 
irrevocable  "  decisions  of  the  Powers. 


296  BELGIUM 

Though  the  compromise  was  entirely  in  his 
favour,  King  William  refused  to  sanction  it. 
From  the  beginning  of  the  negotiations  the  Dutch 
had  contended  that,  by  the  separation  of  Belgium 
and  Holland,  Article  XIV  of  the  treaty  of  Miinster 
(that  is  to  say,  the  right  of  Holland  to  close  the 
Scheldt  in  time  of  peace  or  war)  came  into  force 
again.  Disregarding  the  liberal  principles  laid 
down  at  Vienna,  they  wanted  to  go  back  to  the 
old  regime  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries  which  subjected  Belgium  to  their  con- 
trol. Holding  Maestricht,  the  key  of  the  Meuse, 
and  the  Lower  Scheldt,  the  key  of  Antwerp,  they 
intended  to  treat  independent  Belgium  as  they 
had  treated  the  Spanish  and  Austrian  provinces. 

Laborious  negotiations  proceeded  during  the 
following  years,  and,  in  1838,  King  William  de- 
clared himself  at  last  prepared  to  sign  the  treaty 
on  the  consideration  of  the  payment  of  a  toll  of 
one  florin  and  a  half  per  ton  on  every  ship  entering 
and  leaving  the  stream  on  its  way  to  Antwerp. 

Meanwhile,  Limburg  and  Luxemburg  had  re- 
mained Belgian,  and  the  bonds  attaching  the 
sacrificed  provinces  to  the  country  had  become 
so  strong  that  the  forthcoming  settlement  pro- 
voked emphatic  protests.  Petitions  were  sent 
to  the  king,  and  delegations  came  to  Brussels 
urging  resistance.  Once  more,  Belgian  negotia- 
tors multiplied  their  efforts  in  London  and  Paris. 
But,  this  time,  the  friendly  Powers  remained 
adamant  and  the  Government  was  made  to  under- 
stand that,  if  the  Belgians  created  difficulties, 
nothing  would  prevent  the  German  Confedera- 
tion and  the  King  of  Holland  from  annexing 
Luxemburg  and  Limburg  by  force.  In  the  spring 


SUBMISSION  297 

of  1839  the  Belgian  Chamber  was  at  last  com- 
pelled to  give  its  final  decision.  Three  ministers 
had  resigned  from  the  Government.  The  Austrian 
and  Prussian  "  charges  d'affaires  "  had  left  the 
capital.  It  was  common  knowledge  that  several 
Prussian  army  corps  were  massed  on  the  Eastern 
frontier.  Under  such  a  threat,  and  this  time 
without  the  support  of  England  and  France,  the 
Chamber  was  faced  with  the  cruel  alternative 
of  sanctioning  partial  annexation  or  seeing  the 
very  life  of  the  nation  jeopardized  by  foreign 
invasion.  The  deputies  of  Limburg  and  Luxem- 
burg were  the  most  emphatic  in  their  opposition  : 
"  Suicide  will  follow  fratricide,"  exclaimed  a 
deputy  of  Maestricht,  while  a  representative  of 
Ruremonde  urged  armed  resistance.  "  I  would 
rather  give  my  life  a  thousand  times,"  protested 
a  Luxemburger,  "  than  a  vote  which  would 
oppress  my  conscience  until  my  last  day."  On 
March  I2th,  Mr.  Metz,  who  was  unable  to  walk 
through  illness,  was  carried  to  his  seat  and  declared 
that  "  neither  the  king,  nor  the  Conference,  nor 
the  Government,  nor  the  Chambers  had  the  right 
to  dispose  of  his  life  "  by  "  a  sacrilegious  treaty 
which  takes  away  four  hundred  thousand  Belgians 
from  the  country  of  their  choice  and  covers 
Belgium  with  eternal  shame." 

The  Government's  action  was  defended  by  Mr. 
Nothomb,  who,  though  a  Luxemburger  and  an 
ardent  patriot,  realized  too  well  the  danger  of 
the  situation  not  to  urge  submission :  "  We 
have  not  yet  had  the  opportunity  of  rendering 
any  service  to  Europe.  She  has  no  reason  to 
be  grateful  to  us.  If  it  were  not  for  our  pressing 
need  of  independence,  nothing  up  to  now  justifies 


298  BELGIUM 

our  existence.  What  matter  to  her  our  national 
soul  tempered  by  age-long  traditions !  If  we 
resist,  she  will  put  an  end  to  our  existence  as  a 
free  State  with  a  stroke  of  the  pen.  In  bending 
before  the  inevitable,  Belgium  will  save  her 
nationality,  spare  the  disputed  districts  the  horrors 
of  war,  and  make  a  sacrifice  which  Europe  will 
be  obliged  to  take  into  account  on  the  day  when, 
bearing  no  responsibility  in  the  outbreak  of  war, 
the  country  will  be  able  to  claim  her  revenge  !  " 
Another  argument  urged  by  some  supporters  of 
the  Government  was  based  on  the  fact  that, 
though  not  legally  bound  by  her  former  accept- 
ance of  the  XXIV  Articles,  which  had  remained 
in  abeyance  for  seven  years,  Belgium's  faith  had 
been  pledged  to  it  :  "I  believe,"  said  one  of  them, 
"  that  international  treaties  have  a  real  value,  that 
they  are  not  merely  scraps  of  paper.  I  believe  that 
Right  more  than  Force  governs  the  affairs  of  this 
world,  and  that,  in  the  end,  it  pays  to  fulfil  one's 
obligations,  however  painful  these  may  be." 

A  tragic  incident  occurred  on  March  I4th. 
Mr.  Bekaert-Baekelandt,  deputy  of  Courtrai,  had 
first  been  opposed  to  the  Government's  policy. 
He  had,  however,  been  gradually  convinced  that 
all  resistance  had  become  useless.  This  con- 
version to  the  inevitable  had  broken  his  heart. 
He  ended  his  speech  by  alluding  to  the  return 
at  a  future  date  of  the  deputies  of  the  sacrificed 
provinces  to  the  Belgian  Chamber.  "  Meanwhile," 
he  said,  "  they  will  remain  Belgians  like  ourselves, 
and  they  will  be  generous  enough  to  consider 
that  our  votes  are  extorted  by  force,  that  they 
are  a  painful  sacrifice  imposed  upon  us  by  foreign 
nations.  They  will  no  doubt  appreciate  how 


NEUTRALITY  299 

powerless  we  are  to  avoid  this  sad  obligation.      .  ." 
He  did  not  proceed  further,  and  fell  dead. 

These  manifestations  have  been  compared  with 
the  heartrending  scenes  which  took  place  at  the 
time  of  the  annexation  of  Alsace-Lorraine  by 
Germany,  but  it  would  be  wrong  to  draw  too 
hasty  conclusions  from  such  a  comparison.  On 
the  one  hand,  the  annexation  of  Alsace-Lorraine  is 
far  more  recent.  On  the  other,  Dutch  adminis- 
tration and  the  Grand-Ducal  regime  did  not 
provoke  the  same  opposition  among  the  people. 
If  Belgian  irredentism  proved  very  strong  at 
the  beginning,  it  gradually  diminished,  owing 
mainly  to  the  fact  that  the  patriots,  on  both  sides 
of  the  frontier,  were  unable  to  entertain  any 
hope  of  reunion  during  the  long  period  of  neutrality 
which  paralysed  Belgian  foreign  policy.  Recent 
manifestations  which  took  place  on  the  occasion 
of  the  revision  of  the  1839  treaties  towards  the 
reunion  of  Zeeland  Flanders,  Luxemburg  and 
Limburg  to  Belgium  must,  however,  not  be 
misjudged.  They  must  not  be  considered  as 
the  outcome  of  a  crude  instinct  towards  aggrand- 
isement, following  the  military  success  of  the 
Belgian  army  at  the  end  of  the  Great  War,  or  of 
a  wild  thirst  for  revenge,  but  merely  as  the  out- 
burst of  irredentist  feelings,  nursed  in  silence 
during  eighty  years  of  neutrality,  and  revived, 
among  a  certain  group  of  intellectuals,  by  the 
fierce  struggle  waged  by  the  nation  for  the  safe- 
guard of  its  liberties.  As  for  the  demand  of 
military  guarantees  made  by  the  Government 
during  these  negotiations,  a  demand  which  must 
be  clearly  distinguished  from  the  irredentist 
agitation  just  mentioned,  it  was  merely  prompted 


30O  BELGIUM 

by  the  circumstances  in  which  Belgium  is  placed 
at  the  present  time.  The  territorial  losses  inflicted 
upon  the  country  in  1839  were  largely  compensated 
for  by  the  pact  of  neutrality  entered  into  by  the 
Great  Powers,  which  provided  Belgium  with  the 
strongest  and  most  unequivocal  guarantees  re- 
specting her  territorial  integrity.  Provided  these 
guarantees  were  observed  faithfully,  the  closing 
of  the  Scheldt  by  Holland  in  time  of  war,  the 
critical  situation  on  the  Eastern  frontier  created 
by  the  indefensible  cul-de-sac  of  Dutch  Limburg, 
and  the  supremacy  in  Luxemburg  of  a  foreign 
Power,  did  not  seriously  jeopardize  the  country's 
security.  The  treaties  of  1839  were  considered 
as  forming  a  whole,  the  moral  safeguard  of  guar- 
anteed neutrality  counterbalancing,  to  a  certain 
extent,  the  new  territorial  encroachments.  With 
the  disappearance  of  neutrality,  the  substitution 
of  new  guarantees  of  security  for  the  old  ones 
seemed  obvious.  The  demands  formulated  at 
the  Paris  Conference  by  the  Belgian  people  and 
Government — free  access  from  the  sea  towards 
Belgian  ports  in  order  to  ensure  communica- 
tion between  the  country  and  her  allies  in  time 
of  war,  a  military  entente  with  Holland  towards 
the  defence  of  Dutch  Limburg,  and  a  rapproche- 
ment with  Luxemburg — were  therefore  the  natural 
outcome  of  the  revision  of  the  1839  settlement. 


CHAPTER    XXVI 

NEUTRAL   INDEPENDENCE 

FROM  1839  till  1914,  Belgium  lived  under  the 
regime  of  independent  neutrality. 

Her  territory  had  been  gradually  reduced  during 
modern  times.  She  stood  stripped  of  all  her 
marches.  In  the  course  of  the  seventeenth 
century  she  had  lost  Walloon  Flanders  and 
Artois  to  France  and  Northern  Brabant  to 
Holland,  while  the  conquest  by  the  latter  Power 
of  Zeeland  Flanders  and  some  districts  in  Eastern 
Limburg  had  been  confirmed  and  enlarged  by 
the  1839  settlements.  In  1816  Prussia  had 
seized  the  districts  of  Eupen,  Malmedy,  St.  Vith 
and  Bitsburg,  and  the  XXIV  Articles  had  given 
half  of  Luxemburg  to  the  German  Confederation. 

The  same  treaty  granted  Belgium  indepen- 
dence. Within  these  narrow  limits,  she  remained 
at  least  mistress  of  her  destinies.  She  had  her 
own  king,  her  own  Government,  her  own  Constitu- 
tion. As  far  as  internal  affairs  were  concerned, 
she  enjoyed  full  sovereignty.  She  was  diminished, 
but  not  deeply  altered.  She  maintained,  in  the 
nineteenth  century,  all  the  main  characteristics 
which  had  distinguished  her  history  and  civiliza- 
tion during  the  Middle  Ages  and  the  Renaissance. 
Two  races,  two  languages,  were  still  associated 
on  her  soil.  Walloons  and  Flemings  took  an 
equal  share  in  the  framing  of  her  future.  The 
sea  remained  free  for  commercial  purposes,  and 

301 


3O2  BELGIUM 

the  great  European  roads,  which  had  so  largely 
contributed  in  the  past  to  placing  her  in  the 
forefront  of  European  nations,  still  found  in  the 
country  their  natural  and  necessary  meeting- 
place.  This  main  fact  must  be  made  evident 
if  one  attempts  to  explain  the  causes  of  the  Belgian 
renaissance  during  the  nineteenth  century.  It 
is  not  enough  to  say  that  the  Belgium  of  Leopold 
I  and  Leopold  II  followed  the  tradition  of  the 
Belgium  of  Charles  V  and  Philip  the  Good.  It 
must  be  added  that  modern  Belgium,  in  spite  of 
gradual  encroachments,  had  remained  whole.  Such 
encroachments  having  taken  place  on  all  sides,  the 
nucleus  was  untouched.  Belgium  preserved  her 
great  towns  and  her  main  streams.  No  essential 
organ  of  the  national  body  had  been  impaired. 

As  far  as  internal  affairs  were  concerned,  Belgium 
then  emerged  free  and  sound  from  the  turmoil 
of  three  centuries  of  European  warfare.  For 
external  affairs,  she  was  still  subjected  to  the 
restriction  of  guaranteed  neutrality.  It  is  scarcely 
necessary  to  dwell  on  the  distinction  between 
self-imposed  neutrality,  such  as  that  existing  in 
Switzerland,  and  the  regime  of  guaranteed  neu- 
trality imposed  by  the  Powers  on  Belgium.  The 
first  is  no  restriction  of  the  sovereign  rights  of 
the  State  upon  its  foreign  policy,  the  second  takes 
away  from  it  practically  all  initiative  in  foreign 
matters.  If  the  Powers  bound  themselves,  in 
the  1839  treaty,  not  to  violate  the  integrity  of 
Belgian  territory  and  to  defend  the  country  in 
case  of  attack,  Belgium,  on  her  side,  undertook 
to  observe  strictly  the  rules  of  neutrality  and  to 
take  necessary  measures  towards  the  defence  of 
her  frontiers.  It  might  be  argued,  and  it  has  been 


FALSE   SECURITY  303 

argued  frequently  in  Belgium,  that  such  neu- 
trality could  not  prevent  a  nation  from  possessing 
colonies  and  concluding  a  defensive  alliance  for 
the  sole  purpose  of  safeguarding  herself.  But, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  rival  Powers  could  not  give 
such  a  liberal  interpretation  to  the  text  of  the 
treaties.  First  from  the  French  side,  later  from 
the  German  side,  Belgium  was  constantly  held 
under  suspicion.  Any  manifestation  of  public 
opinion  concerning  foreign  affairs  was  deeply  re- 
sented, her  military  policy  was  narrowly  watched, 
she  could  not  take  a  step  towards  self-defence 
or  economic  expansion  without  provoking  some 
discontent  among  the  Powers.  Thanks  to  the 
firmness  of  her  statesmen  and,  more  than  once, 
to  the  friendly  support  of  Great  Britain,  she  was 
able  to  resist  urgent  demands.  But  it  goes  with- 
out saying  that  the  Belgian  Government,  anxious  to 
preserve  their  dignity,  avoided  all  possible  cause  of 
friction,  so  that  Belgium  scarcely  ever  made  use  of 
her  legitimate  right  to  determine,  within  some 
limits,  her  foreign  policy.  Neutrality,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  meant  paralysis.  For 
many,  it  meant  worse  than  that — carelessness 
and  apathy. 

After  the  eight  years  of  uncertainty  which 
followed  the  first  signature  of  the  XXIV  Articles 
— eight  years  during  which  all  parties  joined 
under  the  permanent  Dutch  menace — two  cur- 
rents of  thought  divided  Belgian  opinion.  The 
first  attempted  to  minimize  the  military  respon- 
sibility of  the  country,  and,  trusting  blindly  to 
the  promise  of  the  Powers,  to  reduce  to  a  strict 
minimum  Belgium's  military  charges  in  men 
and  money.  The  second  saw  clearly  that,  with- 


304  BELGIUM 

out  an  adequate  army  and  the  necessary  defences, 
Belgium  would  be  unable  to  fulfil  her  obligations 
in  case  her  integrity  should  be  violated,  and 
would  suffer  in  consequence ;  it  realized  that 
any  weakness  in  the  country's  defences  increased 
the  temptation  of  some  Powers  to  break  their 
pledge.  It  is  easy  to  understand  that  the  first 
school  was  generally  more  popular  than  the  other, 
and  rallied  not  only  the  sincere  idealists  who 
thought  such  a  contingency  as  the  tearing  up  of 
solemn  treaties  absolutely  impossible,  but  many 
unscrupulous  politicians  only  too  anxious  to 
use  the  popular  catchword  "Not  a  penny,  not  a 
soldier,"  or  "  Niemand  gedwongen  soldaat,"  for 
electoral  purposes.  The  Belgians  had  always 
been  stubbornly  opposed  to  conscription ;  it 
will  be  remembered  that  they  resisted  all  attempts 
at  enforcing  it  in  the  past  and  that  it  was  the 
main  cause  of  the  War  of  Peasants  (1798)  against 
the  "  Sans  Culottes."  To  a  people  which,  by 
tradition,  was  strongly  adverse  to  militarism 
and  centralization,  it  was  only  too  easy  to  mis- 
represent measures  of  self-defence,  urgently  re- 
quired by  the  European  situation,  as  the  first 
step  towards  autocracy  and  oppression.  The 
partisans  of  military  safeguards  found  themselves, 
therefore,  in  a  minority,  and  their  only  support 
was  the  personal  influence  of  the  Belgian  kings, 
who,  from  the  first  days  of  the  new  regime  till 
the  eve  of  the  war,  never  ceased  to  emphasize 
the  evident  danger  of  disregarding  the  country's 
international  responsibilities.  It  is  true  that, 
with  the  lapse  of  time,  the  danger  became  more 
and  more  threatening,  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  "  anti-militarists  "  found  a  fresh  argument  in 


MILITARY  PROBLEMS  3O$ 

the  fact  that,  during  so  many  years,  the  country 
had  been  able  to  weather  the  storm. 

The  first  trouble  arose  in  connection  with  the 
Socialist  revolution  which  broke  out  in  France 
in  1848.  In  the  previous  year,  Marx  and  Engels 
had  established  their  headquarters  in  Brussels, 
where  they  drafted  the  "  Manifesto  of  the  Com- 
munist Party."  The  Belgians,  however,  were 
not  prepared  to  adopt  it,  and  the  revolutionaries 
decided  to  invade  the  country  from  the  South. 
Bands  organized  in  France  and  secretly  encouraged 
by  some  French  leaders  attempted  to  cross  the  fron- 
tier near  Mouscron,  at  Risquons  Tout,  but  their 
advance  was  easily  checked  by  the  Belgian  forces. 

The  only  consequence  of  these  disturbances 
was  the  vote  by  the  Chamber  of  a  new  grant 
towards  the  reinforcement  of  the  army :  "  No 
doubt,"  said  the  Minister  Rogier  on  that  occasion, 
"  it  will  cost  something  to  equip  a  greater  number 
of  men.  But  has  one  ever  estimated  the  cost  of 
an  invasion,  even  if  it  only  lasted  a  week  ?  " 
In  1850,  Leopold  II  wrote  to  one  of  his  ministers  : 
"  Without  means  of  defence  you  will  be  the  play- 
thing of  everyone." 

A  greater  danger  loomed  ahead.  Louis  Napo- 
leon had,  by  the  coup  d'etat  of  December  i, 
1851,  imposed  his  dictatorship  on  France.  Many 
prominent  exiles  and  refugees  came  to  Belgium, 
and  the  Brussels  papers  openly  expressed  their 
opinion  of  the  new  dictator.  So  that  Belgium, 
which  three  years  before  had  been  branded  as 
ultramontane,  was  now  denounced  as  a  nest 
of  communists  and  rebels.  Pressure  was  even 
brought  to  bear  on  the  Government  to  introduce 
Press  censorship.  It  was  duly  ignored,  and  the 

20 


306  BELGIUM 

relations  between  the  two  countries  became  strained. 
One  year  later,  Napoleon  became  Emperor  of 
the  French,  and  all  clear-sighted  Belgians  realized 
that  he  was  only  awaiting  an  opportunity  to 
extend  his  power  and  authority  towards  the 
North.  This  was  shown  plainly  by  the  French 
policy  with  regard  to  Luxemburg. 

The  emperor  having  approached  the  King 
of  Holland  in  view  of  obtaining  from  him  the 
cession  of  the  Grand  Duchy,  a  conference  was 
called  in  London  (May  1867)  at  which  the  in- 
dependence, neutrality  and  inviolability  of  the 
duchy  were  placed  under  the  collective  guarantee 
of  the  Powers.  Thwarted  in  this  direction  by 
European  diplomacy,  Napoleon  III  attempted 
to  obtain  a  footing  in  Luxemburg  by  control- 
ling the  railways.  In  January  1868  the  Com- 
pagnie  de  1'Est,  under  guarantee  of  the  French 
Government,  took  over  from  the  Compagnie 
Guillaume  Luxembourg  its  railway  lines  both  in 
Luxemburg  and  Belgian  territory.  Further  ne- 
gotiations began  with  the  Belgian  companies 
Grand  Luxemburg  and  Chemins  de  fer  Liegeois- 
Limbourgeois,  which  would  have  placed  all  the 
main  railways  of  Luxemburg  and  South-eastern 
Belgium  in  French  hands.  Warned  in  time,  the 
Premier,  Frere-Orban,  instructed  the  Belgian 
representative  in  Paris  to  declare  that  Bel- 
gium would  never  consent  to  such  an  arrange- 
ment. Napoleon's  threats  remained  without  re- 
sult, the  Belgian  policy  being  strongly  upheld  by 
Lord  Clarendon,  and,  in  July  1869,  a  protocol 
was  signed  annulling  the  contracts  of  the  Com- 
pagnie de  FEst  as  far  as  the  Belgian  railways 
were  concerned.  At  the  same  time,  Napoleon 


FRANCO-PRUSSIAN    WAR  307 

III,  anxious  to  find  at  any  cost  "  compensa- 
tions "  for  the  increased  prestige  which  Prussia 
obtained  from  her  Danish  and  Austrian  victories, 
had  sounded  that  Power  regarding  a  project  of 
partition  of  the  Netherlands.  His  proposal,  first 
kept  secret  and  subsequently  revealed  by  Bis- 
marck on  the  morrow  of  the  declaration  of  war 
in  1870,  was  to  annex  Belgium  to  France,  while 
Prussia  would  be  left  a  free  hand  in  Holland.  The 
publication  of  this  revelation  by  The  Times  did 
more  than  anything  else  to  alienate  British  public 
opinion,  if  not  from  France  at  least  from  the  French 
emperor,  during  the  Franco-Prussian  War. 

Baron  Chazal,  who  had  joined  the  Belgian 
ministry  in  1857,  succeeded  in  convincing  the 
Cabinet  of  the  necessity  of  reinforcing  Belgian 
defences.  In  view  of  the  superiority  of  the  French 
army — for  the  threat  came  evidently  from  that 
quarter  at  the  time — it  was  decided  to  give  up 
the  idea  of  defending  the  country  by  a  cordon 
of  inefficient  fortresses,  and  to  build  round  Antwerp 
a  powerful  "  entrenched  camp,"  where  the  Belgian 
army  could  retreat  and  maintain  itself  until 
reinforcements  came  from  abroad.  It  goes  without 
saying  that  the  only  country  which  would  be  in 
a  position  to  send  such  reinforcements  to  Antwerp, 
in  case  of  an  invasion,  was  Great  Britain,  and 
Antwerp  was  purposely  chosen  as  the  only  position 
where  considerable  forces  could  conveniently  be 
disembarked  from  the  sea.  In  view  of  the  present 
interpretation  placed  on  the  1839  treaties  by 
Holland,  which  gives  to  the  latter  country  the  right 
to  close  the  Scheldt  in  time  of  war,  this  scheme  seems, 
to  say  the  least,  hastily  conceived.  But  the  Dutch 
exclusive  sovereignty  over  the  Scheldt  did  not 


308  BELGIUM 

appear  nearly  so  definite  at  the  time  as  it  appears 
now.  No  mention  being  made  of  the  matter  in 
the  1839  settlement,  many  Belgian  authorities 
considered  that  the  stream  was  placed  under  a 
regime  of  co-sovereignty,  and  it  seemed  then 
incredible  that  the  Dutch  should  stop  the  passage 
of  relief  ships. 

In  the  face  of  strong  popular  opposition,  the 
Chamber  voted  a  credit  of  50,000,000  francs 
for  the  Antwerp  fortifications,  and  General 
Brialmont,  one  of  the  foremost  military  engineers 
in  Europe,  was  entrusted  with  the  work.  After 
its  completion,  Antwerp  was  considered  one  of 
the  strongest  fortified  towns  in  the  world. 

As  soon  as  a  conflict  became  imminent  between 
France  and  Prussia,  Great  Britain,  in  accordance 
with  her  traditional  policy  as  far  as  Belgium  was 
concerned,  demanded  from  the  two  Powers  a 
declaration  confirming  Belgian  neutrality.  The 
situation  in  1870  corresponds  exactly  to  that  in 
1914,  and  the  language  used  by  Mr.  Asquith 
during  the  first  days  of  August  of  the  latter 
year  seems  to  echo  the  words  uttered  forty  years 
before  by  his  great  chief.  "  It  would  be  impos- 
sible for  us  not  to  interfere,"  firmly  declared  Mr. 
Gladstone,  "  should  we  witness  the  destruction 
of  Belgium's  liberty  and  independence."  In  both 
cases,  British  policy  was  inspired  by  the  guar- 
antee mentioned  in  the  treaties,  a  guarantee 
which  not  only  implied  safety  for  Belgium,  but  also 
absolute  opposition  to  any  Power  attempting  to 
seize  the  Belgian  coast.  The  motives  were  the 
same,  the  steps  taken  were  the  same,  the  outcome 
only  was  different.  Both  the  French  emperor 
and  Bismarck  confirmed,  in  1870,  the  inviola- 


EUROPEAN  POLICY  IN  l8"JO  309 

bility  of  Belgian  territory,  the  latter  stating  that 
such  a  declaration  was  not  required,  the  treaties 
being  sufficiently  explicit  on  the  subject. 

Why  did  Germany  respect  in  1870  a  treaty 
which  she  ignored  in  1914  ?  Even  without 
taking  into  account  the  change  in  German 
mentality  since  her  victory,  military  conditions 
were  totally  different.  The  strong  chain  of 
fortifications  on  the  French  Eastern  frontier 
had  not  yet  been  erected,  and  the  strength 
of  the  Belgian  army  appeared  by  no  means 
negligible.  Before  the  enormous  increase  of 
modern  armies  which  took  place  during  the 
twenty  years  of  "  armed  peace,"  80,000  men 
might  have  made  all  the  difference  one  way  or 
the  other.  It  was  approximately  the  strength 
of  the  French  army  which  surrendered  at  Sedan. 
After  this  great  defeat,  German  Headquarters 
declared  their  intention  to  pursue  the  fugitives 
into  Belgian  territory  if  the  French  forces  attempted 
to  escape  being  encircled  by  crossing  the  frontier. 
Such  steps,  however,  were  not  rendered  necessary. 
While  showing  their  intense  sympathy  for  the 
vanquished,  the  Belgians  fulfilled  most  scrupulously 
all  their  obligations,  and  the  European  diplomats 
who  had  conceived  the  idea  of  neutralizing  "  the 
cockpit  of  Europe  "  could  congratulate  themselves. 
Their  arrangements  had  worked  perfectly,  and  for 
once  Belgium  had  not  been  drawn  into  the  conflict. 

In  the  light  of  recent  events,  it  is  almost  to  be 
regretted  that  the  test  had  been  so  successful. 
More  than  anything  else,  the  1870  experience 
allayed  suspicion  in  and  out  of  Belgium.  The 
Powers  refrained  from  pressing  on  the  country 
the  necessity  for  further  armaments,  and  the. 


3IO  BELGIUM 

hands  of  the  anti-militarists  in  Belgium,  instead 
of  being  weakened  (as  they  ought  to  have  been 
if  events  had  been  placed  in  their  proper  light), 
were  considerably  strengthened. 

During  the  long  period  of  armed  peace  which 
followed,  while  the  Powers  formed,  on  one  side 
the  "  Triplice  "  (1883),  on  the  other  the  "  Duplice  " 
(1891)  and  the  Entente  Cordiale  (1904),  while 
armies  and  fleets  were  increased  tenfold  and 
German  aggressive  policy  asserted  itself  more 
and  more  acutely,  Belgium's  defences  were  only 
slowly  reinforced,  in  spite  of  the  desperate  efforts 
of  disinterested  patriots  and  of  the  stern  warnings 
of  the  kings.  The  name  of  Leopold  II  must  be 
associated  here  with  that  of  Albert  I.  Both 
were  prompted  in  their  action  by  the  same  motives 
that  inspired  Leopold  I's  policy.  They  placed 
security  on  a  level  with,  and  even  above,  pros- 
perity. Standing  aloof  from  party  intrigues, 
they  were  in  a  position  to  appeal  to  all  patriots 
without  distinction,  and  to  make  use  of  the  services 
of  a  little  band  of  clear-sighted  citizens  who  saw 
the  centre  of  danger  transferred  from  France  to 
Germany,  and  watched  the  young  Empire's  mili- 
tary and  economic  development  with  growing 
anxiety.  Foremost  among  them  stood  Emile 
Banning,  author  of  a  prophetic  report  on  the 
Meuse  defences  (1881-86).  Nothing  illustrated 
more  clearly  the  crippling  influence  of  neutrality 
on  Belgian  international  thought  than  the  way  this 
man  of  genius  was  ignored  by  his  fellow-citizens. 
In  any  other  country,  he  would  have  exercised 
a  considerable  influence  on  public  opinion.  In 
Belgium,  he  was  only  heard  by  a  few  statesmen 
and,  happily,  by  Leopold  II,  who  no  doubt  had 


LEOPOLD  ii.    (KEIGNEU  1865-1909). 


ANTWERP,  LIEGE,  NAMUR  311 

his  report  in  mind  when,  in  1887,  he  warned  one 
of  his  ministers  of  the  necessity  of  Belgium  not 
only  safeguarding  her  independence,  but  "  pre- 
venting the  passage  "  of  foreign  troops  through 
her  territory.  Germany  had  now  become  the 
main  source  of  danger,  but  in  order  to  avoid  all 
criticism  it  was  decided  to  build  two  bridge- 
heads, one  at  Namur  and  the  other  at  Liege. 
The  first  commanded  the  upper  valley  of  the  Meuse, 
the  second  the  middle  course  of  the  stream ; 
one  was  facing  France,  the  other  Germany.  The 
plan  of  defence  was  consequently  developed,  the 
forts  enabling  the  army  to  make  a  short  stand 
before  retiring  into  the  entrenched  camp  of 
Antwerp.  It  is  largely  to  Banning' s  clearsighted- 
ness and  to  Leopold  II's  firm  attitude  that 
Western  Europe  owes  the  respite  given  by  the 
resistance  of  Liege  in  August  1914.  Had  not 
General  Brialmont's  original  plans  of  the  forts 
been  unduly  curtailed,  this  resistance  would  have 
proved  still  more  effective. 

Credits  for  the  defences  of  Liege  and  Namur, 
like  those  of  Antwerp  a  few  years  before,  were 
voted  grudgingly  by  a  Chamber  lulled  into  a 
false  state  of  security  by  the  experience  of  1870. 
But,  if  public  opinion  was  little  inclined  to  devote 
money  to  improve  the  country's  defences,  it 
became  obdurate  when  experts  advised  a  reform 
of  the  Belgian  military  system.  Not  only  were 
the  effectives  ridiculously  small,  compared  with 
the  size  of  the  German  and  French  armies,  but 
recruiting  was  managed  through  a  system  of 
drawing  lots,  to  which  was  added  the  evil  of 
"substitution" — that  is  to  say,  the  sons  of 
the  bourgeois  class  who  drew  a  "  bad  number  " 


312  BELGIUM 

were  entitled  to  buy  a  substitute,  who  took  their 
place  in  the  ranks.  A  campaign  for  personal 
and  general  service  was  launched,  but  in  spite 
of  the  king's  support  it  met  with  little  success. 
A  certain  number  of  volunteers  were  added  to 
the  normal  effectives  in  1902,  and  in  1908,  after 
the  sensational  journey  of  William  II  to  Tangiers, 
new  credits  were  voted  for  the  development  of 
the  Antwerp  defences.  To  those  who  objected 
that  fortifications  would  be  useless  if  Belgium  did 
not  possess  a  sufficient  army  to  man  them,  the 
king  answered  :  "  Let  us  have  the  stones  first. 
The  men  will  come  later."  When  the  seventy- 
fifth  anniversary  of  Belgian  Independence  gave 
him  at  last  the  opportunity  of  breaking  the  silence 
imposed  upon  him  by  the  Congo  campaign,  he 
uttered  a  supreme  warning  to  the  nation  :  "  Let 
us  not  be  overconfident  in  our  present  prosperity  ; 
let  us  stand  closer  and  closer  together  around  our 
flag.  Nations,  like  human  beings,  have  to  pass 
through  a  critical  age  which  brings  about  old  age 
or  premature  death.  Its  date,  for  young  nations, 
falls  during  the  last  quarter  of  the  first  century  of 
their  existence."  Once  more,  on  February  18, 
1909,  he  imparted  to  a  friend — for  his  lack  of 
popularity  had  made  public  declarations  useless 
at  that  time — his  anxieties  regarding  the  future  : 
"  It  is  indispensable  that  we  should  possess  a  good 
army,  that  we  should  be  able  to  defend  ourselves, 
and  thus,  in  conformity  with  our  international 
obligations,  prevent  the  crossing  of  our  territory 
by  a  foreign  army,  and  make  such  crossing  as  costly 
as  possible,  in  order  to  remove  the  temptation  from 
those  who  would  be  inclined  to  attempt  it.  .  .  .  On 
my  return  from  my  recent  journey  to  Germany, 


MILITARY  REFORM  313 

I  warned  all  concerned,  that  Germany  is  building 
more  ships  and  increasing  her  military  expenses. 
We  must  efficiently  complete  our  fortifications  and 
our  equipment.  You  know  that  neither  one  nor 
the  other  can  be  improvised.  ..." 

Leopold  II  attached  such  importance  to  the 
adoption  of  personal  service,  proposed  in  1909, 
that  he  deliberately  postponed  an  operation  which 
might  have  saved  his  life,  in  order  to  be  able  to 
sign  the  decree  which  placed  the  Bill  on  the 
Statute  Book.  He  died  three  days  later.1 

This  supreme  satisfaction  was  not  unmixed. 
Important  concessions  had  had  to  be  made.  The 
voluntary  system  was  maintained  to  a  certain 
extent,  only  one  son  per  family  being  called  up  for 
a  short  time  (fifteen  months).  The  passing  of  the 
Bill  was  a  victory  in  principle,  but  it  only  increased 
very  slightly  the  strength  of  the  Belgian  army. 

The  Pan-German  campaign  was  in  full  swing 
by  then.  Maps  were  published,  beyond  the 
Rhine,  showing  large  portions  of  Belgium  painted 
in  imperial  red,  like  the  rest  of  the  Reich.  Pam- 
phlets and  books  appeared  claiming  Antwerp 
as  a  German  port  and  connecting  East  Africa 
with  the  German  Cameroons  through  the  Belgian 
Congo.  Still  the  majority  of  the  Belgians  would 
not  believe  that  such  views  were  shared  by  the 
German  Emperor  and  his  Government.  It  was 
only  after  the  Agadir  coup  (1911)  and  Algeciras 
(1912)  that  M.  de  Broqueville,  Minister  of  War, 
strongly  supported  by  King  Albert,  was  able 
to  carry  through  a  Bill  introducing  general  and 
compulsory  service,  which  would  have  placed  the 

1  See  E.  Vandersmisscn,  Leopold  II  and  Beernaert,  and  G. 
Harry.  Leopold  II  (1920). 


314  BELGIUM 

army  on  a  proper  footing  if  its  provisions  had 
been  rendered  immediately  effective.  Unhappily, 
the  Bill  only  provided  for  a  gradual  increase,  the 
army  reaching  its  full  strength  of  340,000  men 
in  1917.  This  last  reservation  proved  nearly 
fatal  to  the  country,  for,  when  mobilization  was 
ordered,  in  July  1914,  the  total  forces  available  only 
amounted  to  117,000  men,  of  which  the  combatant 
portion  was  reduced  to  93,000  bayonets — an  increase 
of  only  10,000  over  the  effectives  of  1870. 

There  are  few  subjects  so  depressing  as  the 
slow  development  of  Belgian  defences  under  the 
threat  of  invasion.  Each  time  the  situation 
became  serious,  as  in  1848,  1852,  1908  and  1911, 
public  opinion  allowed  some  progress  to  be  made. 
But  it  came  always  too  late.  The  people  were 
ready  to  face  their  responsibilities,  but  they  could 
not  be  made  to  realize  them.  Blindly  relying 
on  the  1839  treaties,  absorbed  in  their  economic 
and  intellectual  development,  they  showed  little 
interest  in  international  affairs.  Those  who  did, 
found  themselves  in  the  dilemma  either  of  taking 
refuge  in  a  fools'  paradise  or  of  powerlessly 
facing  an  ever-growing  menace.  Neutrality  may 
have  saved  Belgium  in  1870,  full  independence 
might  have  saved  her  in  1914. 


CHAPTER    XXVII 

ECONOMIC  RENAISSANCE 

ONE  month  after  the  first  outbreak  of  the  Belgian 
Revolution,  elections  were  already  taking  place. 
An  almost  equal  number  of  Liberals  (the  succes- 
sors of  the  Vonckists)  and  of  Catholics  (Statists) 
were  returned  to  the  Congress  whose  duty  was 
to  frame  the  new  Constitution.  It  is  typical  of 
the  spirit  of  patriotic  union  between  both  parties 
and  of  the  adaptability  of  the  Belgians  to  their 
new  independent  life  that  these  deputies,  most 
of  whom  had  no  experience  of  political  life,  suc- 
ceeded, within  two  months,  in  drafting  a  Constitu- 
tion which  has  since  served  as  a  model  for  several 
European  nations.  It  was  the  result  of  various 
influences  :  the  groundwork — based  on  individual 
liberty,  equality  before  the  law,  freedom  of  the 
press,  of  worship,  of  public  meeting,  of  associa- 
tion and  of  teaching — was  no  doubt  inspired  by 
the  French.  On  the  other  hand,  the  preponderance 
of  legislative  power,  represented  by  the  Chamber 
and  the  Senate,  over  the  executive,  the  principle 
of  ministerial  responsibility,  placing  the  king 
outside  and  above  parties,  was  the  result  of 
English  influence  :  but  perhaps  the  most  interest- 
ing characteristic  of  the  new  Constitution  was  the 
way  in  which  provincial  and  communal  rights 
were  safeguarded,  the  communes,  in  particular, 
preserving  practical  autonomy  for  local  affairs, 
with  the  only  restriction  that  the  burgomaster 

3«3 


3l6  BELGIUM 

was  to  be  nominated  by  the  king.  The  Belgian 
Constitution  struck  the  balance  between  centraliza- 
tion, inherited  from  the  period  of  French  rule, 
and  particularism,  which  had,  from  the  Burgundian 
period,  been  the  most  striking  feature  in  Belgian 
politics.  If  we  associate,  in  our  minds,  particu- 
larism with  the  traditional  conservatism  of  the 
Catholic  peasantry  and  centralization  with  modern 
industrial  developments  and  the  intellectual  culture 
of  the  large  towns,  we  shall  obtain  a  fairly  good 
idea  of  the  two  general  tendencies  which  divided 
public  opinion  in  Belgium  during  the  nineteenth 
century  and  whose  main  features  may  be  recog- 
nized not  only  in  politics,  but  also  in  the  economic, 
intellectual  and  artistic  development  of  the  country. 

The  status  of  neutrality  not  only  affected  foreign 
politics,  it  reacted  very  strongly  on  Belgium's 
internal  life.  If  it  crippled  her  activity  with  re- 
gard to  home  defence,  it  developed  to  an  abnormal 
degree  party  warfare.  It  shut  the  door  on  inter- 
national problems  and  all  questions  which  may 
be  considered  as  national  issues  and  before  which 
party  strife  ought  to  cease  in  consideration  for 
the  common  weal.  Social,  philosophic  or  religious 
differences  were  not  balanced,  in  modern  Belgium, 
as  in  other  countries,  by  international  conscious- 
ness. In  the  close  atmosphere  of  the  tutelage 
of  the  Powers,  party  politics  absorbed  the  whole 
public  life  of  the  nation  and  external  problems 
were  practically  ignored.  It  thus  happened  that 
the  people  who  stood  in  the  forefront  of  Europe, 
and  who  were  more  directly  interested  than  any 
other  in  the  fluctuations  of  European  politics, 
were  about  the  worst  informed  on  foreign  affairs. 

From  1839  to  1885,  the  electorate  being  limited 


LIBERALS  AND   CATHOLICS  317 

by  a  property  qualification  (only  35,000  electors 
out  of  4,000,000  inhabitants  taking  part  in  the 
first  election),  the  struggle  was  confined  to  the 
two  middle-class  parties,  Catholics  and  Liberals. 
Roughly  speaking,  the  Catholics  stood  for  the 
defence  of  religious  interests,  more  especially  in 
the  domain  of  education  and  relief,  the  Liberals 
for  the  supremacy  of  a  nominally  neutral  State 
in  all  public  matters.  It  is  easy  to  realize  how 
this  purely  political  quarrel  could  degenerate 
into  a  conflict  of  ideals,  some  ultramontanes 
distrusting  the  motives  of  "  atheists  "  and  ignor- 
ing the  public  spirit  of  men  who  did  not  share 
their  creed,  while  some  agnostics,  steeped  in  the 
narrow  doctrines  of  Voltaire  and  Diderot,  made 
the  Church  the  scapegoat  of  all  social  evils  and 
even  denied  the  wholesome  influence  of  religion 
on  social  education. 

During  the  first  part  of  the  century  the  conflict 
was  not  so  acute,  both  parties  possessing  their 
moderate  and  extremist  leaders  and  the  so-called 
"  Liberal  Catholics  "  acting  as  a  link  between  the 
two  factions.  From  1847  to  1870  the  Liberals, 
representing  the  bourgeoisie  of  the  large  towns, 
were  most  of  the  time  in  power,  while  from 
1870  to  1878  the  Catholics,  upheld  by  the  farmers 
and  the  middle  classes  of  the  small  towns,  took 
the  direction  of  affairs.  The  property  qualification 
was  progressively  reduced,  first  for  the  parlia- 
mentary, later  for  the  provincial  and  communal 
elections,  and  a  larger  share  was  given  to  the  lower 
middle  classes  in  the  administration  of  the  country. 
Meanwhile,  party  differences  had  developed  through 
the  gradual  disappearance  of  the  moderating 
elements  on  both  sides,  and  the  vexed  question 


3  1 8  BELGIUM 

of  education  was  coming  to  the  fore.  The  1830 
Constitution  was  not  very  explicit  concerning 
this  matter,  and  both  parties  interpreted  it  ac- 
cording to  their  own  interests.  Many  communes 
having  neglected  to  keep  up  the  official  schools, 
religious  orders  had  taken  a  more  and  more 
important  part  in  primary  education.  When  the 
Liberals  came  into  power,  in  1878,  they  passed 
a  law  compelling  every  commune  to  maintain 
its  own  schools,  where  religious  instruction  should 
only  be  given  out  of  school  hours.  They  also 
founded  a  great  many  secondary  schools  and 
training  colleges,  with  the  object  of  transferring 
education  from  religious  to  secular  teachers. 
These  sweeping  reforms  entailed  heavy  expendi- 
ture and  unpopular  taxation,  and  finally  brought 
about  the  downfall  of  the  Liberal  regime  in  1884. 
The  Catholics  proceeded  to  abrogate  the  1879 
law  on  primary  education  by  giving  State  grants 
to  the  free  Catholic  schools,  and  suppressed  a 
number  of  the  secondary  schools  and  training 
colleges  established  by  the  previous  regime. 

Feeling  ran  so  high  that  King  Leopold,  who 
realized  the  harm  which  this  "  school  war  "  was 
doing  to  the  national  spirit,  warned  Monsieur 
Malou  (the  Catholic  premier)  against  the  attitude 
he  had  adopted,  as  he  had  previously  warned 
the  Liberal  premier,  Frere-Orban  :  "  The  Liberals 
have  acted  as  if  there  were  no  longer  any  Catholics 
in  Belgium.  Are  you  going  also  to  act  as  if  there 
were  no  Liberals  left  in  the  country,  without  any 
consideration  for  the  disastrous  consequences  of 
such  an  attitude  for  the  nation  and  for  yourself  ?  " 
K  From  1885  to  1913  educational  matters,  though 
by  no  means  forgotten,  were  entirely  overshadowed 


LABOUR   PARTY  319 

by  social  problems  and  by  the  efforts  made  by 
the  Opposition  to  obtain  the  revision  of  the 
Constitution  and  the  adoption  of  universal  suffrage. 
This  change  was  brought  about  by  the  foundation, 
in  1885,  by  the  Flemish  printer,  Cesar  de  Paepe, 
of  the  Belgian  Labour  Party.  Its  action  was  from 
the  first  political  as  well  as  economic.  While 
consumers'  co-operatives,  such  as  the  "  Vooruit " 
of  Ghent,  were  founded  in  several  large  towns, 
Socialist  clubs  entertained  a  continuous  agitation 
for  electoral  franchise,  their  aim  being  to  use 
Parliament  to  obtain  the  sweeping  social  reforms 
inscribed  on  their  programme.  Here,  again,  we 
find  French  insistence  on  politics  checked  by  the 
old  spirit  of  association  which  had  been  so  promi- 
nent in  the  Netherlands  during  the  Middle  Ages. 

After  the  miners'  strike  of  1886,  both  Catholics 
and  Liberals  revised  their  programmes  and  paid 
more  attention  to  social  reforms.  But  the  work- 
men, who  were  now  powerfully  organized,  es- 
pecially in  the  industrial  centres  of  the  South, 
wanted  to  take  a  direct  share  in  political  life. 
Under  pressure  of  public  opinion,  the  demand 
for  a  revision  of  the  Constitution  was  at  last 
taken  into  consideration  in  1891,  and  in  1893 
a  new  law  granted  universal  suffrage  tempered 
by  plural  voting.  In  1902  a  new  campaign  was 
launched  by  the  allied  Liberal-Socialist  opposition 
in  favour  of  universal  suffrage  pure  and  simple, 
without  obtaining  any  result,  but  when,  in  1913,  a 
general  strike  supported  the  demand,  the  Catholic 
Government  promised  that  the  question  should 
be  examined  by  a  parliamentary  commission. 


32O  BELGIUM 

Before  the  war,  Belgium  was  the  most  produc- 
tive agricultural  district  of  Europe.  The  secret 
of  her  prosperity  is  generally  attributed  to  the 
small  number  of  large  estates  and  to  the  great 
area  cultivated  by  small  owners,  48  per  cent, 
of  the  cultivated  area  being  covered  by  farms  of 
2\  to  i\  acres.  It  must  be  added  that,  during 
the  last  twenty  years,  powerful  producers'  co- 
operatives, or  "  Boerenbonden,"  have  grouped 
agriculturists  and  given  them  important  advan- 
tages with  regard  to  credit  and  insurance.  The 
inbred  qualities  which  have  rendered  this  deve- 
lopment possible  are,  however,  to  be  found  in  the 
race  itself.  Again  and  again,  in  the  course  of 
centuries,  the  Belgian  peasant  has  come  to  the 
fore  under  every  political  regime  and  every  system 
of  landholding.  He  has  had  to  conquer  the  country 
from  the  sea,  protect  it  against  its  incursions  and 
to  repair  periodically  the  havoc  caused  by  war. 
The  memory  of  physical  and  social  calamities  has 
been  handed  down  the  ages,  and  the  present  system 
of  small-ownership  and  co-operative  societies  is 
only  the  result  of  centuries  of  incessant  toil. 

The  conservative  spirit  of  the  peasants  and 
farmers  is  illustrated  by  the  opposition  made  to 
the  project  of  the  Liberal  Minister  Rogier,  in 
1833,  to  build  the  first  railway  in  Belgium.  It 
was  argued  that  this  would  be  a  considerable  waste 
of  fertile  soil  and  would  frighten  the  cattle.  The 
first  railway  line,  between  Brussels  and  Malines, 
was  nevertheless  inaugurated  on  May  5,  1835, 
and  since  then,  such  enormous  progress  has 
been  realized  that,  before  the  war,  Belgium 
occupied  the  first  place  in  Europe  with  regard 
to  the  development  of  its  railway  lines.  All  other 


THE   INDUSTRIAL   REVOLUTION  321 

means  of  communication  have  been  similarly  de- 
veloped. In  1913  the  country  possessed  40,000 
kilometres  of  roads,  4,656  kilometres  of  railway 
line,  2,250  kilometres  of  light  railways,  and  2,000 
kilometres  of  inland  waterways. 


The  first  consequence  of  the  Revolution  was 
to  disorganize  Belgian  industry,  which  had  lost 
the  Dutch  market,  the  powerful  works  of 
Cockerill,  at  Seraing,  being  among  the  few  which 
did  not  suffer  from  the  change.  The  introduction 
of  machinery  in  a  country  so  rich  in  coal-fields 
not  only  restored  the  situation  but  enormously 
increased  industrial  production  in  the  Southern 
districts.  In  1830  only  400  machines  were  used, 
with  a  total  of  12,000  horse-power ;  in  1902  these 
figures  had  risen  to  19,000  machines  with  720,000 
horse-power,  without  taking  into  account  rail- 
way engines  (718,000  horse-power). 

The  distribution  of  the  various  industries  in 
the  different  parts  of  the  country  did  not  vary 
very  much  from  that  existing  under  previous 
regimes.  Broadly  speaking,  no  new  development 
took  place,  every  centre  remaining  in  the  situa- 
tion determined  by  coal  or  the  presence  of  raw 
material.  The  principal  centre  of  the  textile 
industry  remained  at  Ghent,  near  the  hemp-fields 
of  the  Lys  ;  metal- works,  glass-works,  etc.,  were 
still  grouped  close  to  the  four  main  coal-fields 
in  the  region  of  Mons,  La  Louviere  (Centre), 
Charleroi  and  Lie*ge ;  the  number  of  men  en- 
gaged on  industrial  production  before  the  war 
had  reached  1,500,000,  among  whom  were  153,000 

81 


322  BELGIUM 

miners,    over    149,000   metal   workers,    and   over 
129,000  textile  workers. 

But  it  is  not  so  much  to  the  number  as  to 
the  quality  of  her  workmen  that  Belgium  owes 
her  great  industrial  prosperity.  This  may  be 
accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  a  great  number  of 
industrial  workers  never  lost  touch  with  the  land. 
Belonging,  most  of  them,  to  agricultural  districts, 
they  do  not  settle  permanently  around  their 
factories,  and  between  the  country  and  the  great 
centres  there  is  a  continuous  exchange  of  popu- 
lation. The  hard-working  qualities  of  mechanics 
and  artisans  are  inherited  from  the  peasants, 
and  there  is  a  considerable  reluctance,  on  their 
part,  to  crowd  into  big  cities,  cheap  railway 
fares  allowing  them  to  live  around  the  towns 
where  they  work  during  the  day. 

The  condition  of  this  wonderful  economic 
development  was  the  opening  of  the  Scheldt. 
For  nearly  two  centuries  and  a  half  the  country 
had  been  cut  off  from  the  outside  world  and 
obliged  to  live  on  her  own  resources.  We  have 
seen  how,  during  the  fifteen  years  of  union  with 
Holland,  the  trade  of  Antwerp  had  made  consider- 
able progress,  and  how,  in  spite  of  Dutch  resistance, 
the  freedom  of  international  rivers  proclaimed 
by  the  Vienna  Congress  was  applied  to  the 
Lower  Scheldt.  The  1839  settlement  placed  the 
river,  below  Antwerp,  under  the  joint  control 
of  a  Belgo-Dutch  commission.  The  only  obstacle 
still  in  the  way  was  a  toll  of  one  florin  and  a  half 
which  King  William  had  persisted  in  levying  on 
all  ships  going  and  coming  from  the  port.  In 
1863,  after  laborious  negotiations  undertaken 
by  Baron  Lambermont,  Belgium  was  able  to 


TRADE   OF  ANTWERP  323 

buy  off  these  tolls  from  Holland  for  the  sum 
of  36,000,000  francs.  The  stream  was  at  last 
definitely  free,  at  least  in  time  of  peace.  Placed 
under  normal  conditions,  with  the  help  of  numer- 
ous waterways  spreading  over  the  interior  of  an 
exceptionally  rich  country,  Antwerp  was  bound 
to  reconquer  rapidly  the  situation  it  had  occupied 
under  Charles  V.  In  1840  about  1,500  ships, 
with  a  tonnage  of  24,000,  entered  the  port. 
In  1898  the  annual  tonnage  had  reached  6,500,000, 
and  in  1913  over  25,000,000.  Though  such 
figures  were  undreamt  of  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
the  nature  of  the  Antwerp  trade  remained  very 
similar.  The  Antwerp  merchants  were  really 
brokers  or  warehousers,  and  most  of  the  merchan- 
dise brought  to  the  port  from  all  parts  of  the  world 
was  re-exported  to  other  countries.  So  that  in 
trade,  as  in  industry  and  agriculture,  the  perma- 
nence of  certain  characteristics,  determined  by  the 
land  and  the  race,  are  preserved  to  this  day. 
The  absence  of  a  national  merchant  fleet,  which 
was  equally  apparent  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
did  not  affect  imports  and  exports,  which  increased 
respectively  from  98,000,000  francs  and  104,500,000 
francs  in  1831  to  6,550,000,000  francs  and 
5,695,000,000  francs  in  1910.  The  Government 
undertook  various  great  public  works  in  order 
to  allow  the  country  to  benefit  fully  from  this 
extraordinary  activity.  In  1906  a  law  was 
passed  voting  large  credits  for  the  extension  of 
Antwerp's  maritime  installations.  When  these 
works  are  completed  they  will  give  to  the  port 
60  kilometres  of  quays  instead  of  21.  In  1881 
the  enlargement  of  the  Terneuzen  canal  per- 
mitted large  ships  to  reach  Ghent ;  the  new  port 


324  BELGIUM 

of  Bruges  and  the  Zeebrugge  canal  were  inaugurated 
in  1907,  and  an  important  scheme,  whose  result 
will  be  to  connect  Brussels  with  the  sea,  begun 
in  1900,  is  still  in  progress. 

Economic  renaissance  was  accompanied  by  a 
corresponding  increase  in  the  population.  From 
4,000,000  in  1831  it  rose  to  5,000,000  in  1870, 
and  to  7,500,000  in  1911.  With  a  density  of 
652  persons  per  square  mile,  Belgium  became 
the  most  thickly  populated  country  in  the  world 
and  only  consumed  a  fourteenth  part  of  her  in- 
dustrial production.  The  necessity  of  finding  new 
markets  abroad  and  of  discovering  some  substi- 
tute for  the  loss  of  the  Dutch  colonies,  which 
had  proved  so  helpful  during  the  period  of 
union  with  Holland,  might  have  been  felt  by  any 
far-sighted  statesman.  Leopold  I  had  already 
devoted  some  attention  to  the  problem.  He 
encouraged  several  Belgian  settlements  in  Rio 
Nunez,  where  a  regular  protectorate  was  estab- 
lished for  a  short  time,  in  Guatemala  and  in  various 
parts  of  Brazil.  None  of  these  enterprises,  how- 
ever, bore  fruit,  and  the  problem  was  still  unsolved 
when  Leopold  II  ascended  the  throne  in  1865. 

The  search  for  a  colonial  outlet  for  the  activity 
of  the  nation  dominated  the  reign  of  the  new 
king  and  absorbed  all  the  energy  he  was  able 
to  spare  from  military  problems.  As  Duke  of 
Brabant,  Leopold  II  had  already  drawn  the 
attention  of  the  country  to  the  future  develop- 
ment of  China.  He  had  formed  several  projects 
with  regard  to  the  establishment  of  a  Belgian  settle- 
ment at  the  mouth  of  the  Yangtse-Kiang  and 
on  the  island  of  Formosa.  Their  failure  did  not 
prevent  him  from  taking,  later  on,  an  active  part 


FOREIGN  ENTERPRISES  325 

in  Chinese  affairs.  The  Imperial  Government 
did  not  entertain  towards  Belgium  the  same 
distrust  as  it  did  towards  the  European  Great 
Powers,  and  King  Leopold  several  times  had  the 
opportunity  of  acting  as  intermediary  between 
these  Powers  and  the  Chinese  Government,  in 
order  to  obtain  concessions.  He  became  thus,  in 
later  years,  the  initiator  of  the  Peking-Hankow 
railway.  The  difficulty  of  finding  a  field  of 
economic  activity  in  foreign  countries  became, 
nevertheless,  more  and  more  apparent,  and,  with- 
out giving  up  his  Chinese  policy,  the  Belgian  king 
endeavoured  to  ensure  to  his  country  some  part 
of  the  vacant  territories  which  had  not  yet  been 
seized  by  other  European  nations.  When  his 
Congo  enterprise  was  in  full  swing,  he  proposed 
to  buy  the  Canary  Islands  from  Spain  (1898), 
and,  after  the  Spanish-American  War,  opened 
negotiations  with  America  with  regard  to  the 
future  development  of  the  newly  acquired  Philip- 
pines. He  was  also  concerned,  for  a  time,  with 
Korean,  Manchurian  and  Mongolian  enterprises, 
and  nothing  but  the  progress  of  the  Congo  scheme 
put  a  stop  to  his  incessant  search  for  new  oppor- 
tunities. 

In  1876,  when  the  Congo  basin  was  still  practically 
terra  incognita,  Stanley  having  just  left  Europe 
in  order  to  determine  the  course  of  the  stream, 
Leopold  II  founded  the  "Association  Interna- 
tionale Africaine."  It  was  a  purely  private  asso- 
ciation, composed  of  geographers  and  travellers, 
its  aim  being  to  suppress  the  slave  trade  in  Central 
Africa  and  to  open  this  part  of  the  continent  to 
modern  civilization.  Two  years  later,  on  Stanley's 
return,  the  "  Comite"  d'Etudes  du  Haut  Congo  " 


326  BELGIUM 

secured  his  services  in  order  to  undertake,  with 
the  help  of  a  little  band  of  Belgian  explorers, 
a  complete  survey  of  the  Congo  basin  and  to 
conclude  treaties  with  the  native  chiefs.  Within 
five  years  a  region  as  large  as  a  fifth  of  Europe, 
and  eighty  times  larger  than  Belgium,  had  been 
brought  under  the  influence  of  the  Committee, 
and  in  1883  the  king  founded  the  "Association 
Internationale  du  Congo." 

If,  instead  of  ruling  over  a  small  neutral  State, 
Leopold  II  had  ruled  over  one  of  the  large  nations 
of  Europe,  he  would  have  reaped  forthwith  the 
fruit  of  his  labour  and  the  gratitude  of  his  people. 
The  Congo  would  have  become  a  State  colony, 
been  subsidized  by  State  funds,  and  the  sovereign 
would  have  incurred  no  further  responsibilities 
in  the  matter.  But  Belgium  was  not  a  Great 
Power  like  Germany,  which  acquired  its  African 
colonies  at  the  same  time,  in  a  similar  manner. 
Neither  could  she  rest  her  colonial  claims  on 
historical  grounds,  like  Holland  or  Portugal. 
She  was  not  even  fully  independent,  as  far  as 
foreign  policy  was  concerned,  and  her  right  to 
break  fresh  ground  might  have  been  questioned 
at  the  time.  Besides,  popular  opinion  in  Belgium, 
dominated  by  the  fear  of  international  complica- 
tions, was  not  prepared  to  claim  this  right,  even 
the  capitalists  considering  the  king's  projects 
far  too  hazardous  to  give  him  the  necessary 
support.  Leopold  II  was,  therefore,  left  to  his 
own  resources  to  accomplish  an  almost  superhuman 
task  :  to  obtain  the  necessary  recognition  from 
the  Powers,  and  to  sufficiently  develop  the  re- 
sources of  the  Congo  to  persuade  the  Belgian 
people  to  accept  his  gift. 


CONGO  FREE  STATE  $2? 

It  was,  therefore,  not  as  a  king,  but  as  a  private 
individual,  that  the  president  of  the  "Associa- 
tion Internationale  du  Congo  "  was  obliged  first 
to  remove  the  obstacles  created  by  French  and 
Portuguese  opposition,  and,  later,  to  persuade 
the  other  Powers  to  entrust  him  with  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  new  territory.  This  first  success 
must  not  be  attributed  to  his  diplomatic  skill 
alone,  but  also  to  the  enormous  expenses  implied 
by  the  bold  enterprise,  to  the  reluctance  of  the 
rich  colonial  Powers  to  incur  further  liabilities 
and  to  their  anxiety  to  avoid  international  diffi- 
culties. Germany's  attitude,  in  view  of  further 
events,  may  be  described  as  expectant.  Bismarck 
had  only  just  been  converted  to  colonial  expansion, 
and  found,  no  doubt,  what  he  must  have  con- 
sidered as  the  "interregnum"  of  King  Leopold 
an  excellent  solution  of  his  difficulties. 

In  1885  the  work  of  the  "  Association  "  was 
recognized  by  the  Congress  of  Berlin,  the  sovereign 
of  Belgium  becoming  the  sovereign  of  the  Congo 
Free  State.  The  treaty  of  Berlin  stipulated 
that  trade  should  remain  free  in  the  new  State, 
that  the  natives  should  be  protected  and  that 
slavery  should  be  suppressed.  Four  years  later, 
the  king,  in  his  will,  left  the  Congo  to  Belgium, 
"desiring  to  ensure  to  his  beloved  country  the 
fruit  of  a  work  pursued  during  long  years  with 
the  generous  and  devoted  collaboration  of  many 
Belgians,  and  confident  of  thus  securing  for  Bel- 
gium, if  she  was  willing  to  use  it,  an  indispensable 
outlet  for  her  trade  and  industry  and  a  new  field 
for  her  children's  activity." 

The  work  was  pushed  with  indomitable  energy. 
In  1894  a  vigorous  campaign  against  the  Arab 


328  BELGIUM 

slave-traders  was  brought  to  a  successful  con- 
clusion. In  1898  the  first  railway  connecting 
Matadi,  on  the  Lower  Congo,  with  Leopoldville, 
on  the  Stanley  Pool,  opened  the  great  waterway 
as  far  as  the  Stanley  Falls.  A  flotilla  was  launched 
on  the  upper  stream  and  its  main  affluents,  while 
roads  and  telegraph  lines  spread  all  over  the 
country. 

The  financial  situation,  however,  remained 
critical.  The  enterprise  had  absorbed  the  greater 
part  of  the  king's  personal  fortune.  The  credits 
voted  by  the  Belgian  Chambers  were  inade- 
quate, and,  though  a  few  financiers  began  by 
now  to  realize  the  enormous  value  of  the  enter- 
prise, their  number  was  not  sufficient  to  ensure 
the  immediate  future.  Faced  with  considerable 
difficulties,  which  compelled  him  to  severely 
curtail  his  personal  expenses,  Leopold  II  had 
formally  offered  the  colony  to  the  country  in 
1895.  This  offer  had  been  rejected.  Under  the 
stress  of  circumstances,  the  sovereign  of  the 
Congo  Free  State  decided  to  exploit  directly 
the  natural  resources  of  the  land,  mainly  rubber 
and  ivory.  The  natives  were  compelled  to  pay  a 
tax  in  kind  and  vast  concessions  were  granted 
to  commercial  companies  whose  actions  could 
not  be  properly  controlled.  This  semi-commercial, 
semi-political  system  was  bound  to  lead  to  abuses, 
even  a  few  State  agents  betraying  the  confidence 
which  their  chief  had  placed  in  them  and  oppress- 
ing the  natives  in  order  to  exact  a  heavier  tax. 

When  the  first  protests  were  heard  in  this 
country,  King  Leopold  committed  the  grave 
mistake  of  not  starting  an  immediate  inquiry 
and  punishing  the  culprits.  Distrusting  the 


THE  BELGIAN  CONGO 

motives  of  the  leaders  of  the  campaign,  and 
stiffened  in  his  resistance  by  the  tone  they  chose 
to  adopt  towards  him,  he  allowed  the  opposition 
to  grow  to  such  proportions  that  the  general 
public,  whose  indignation  was  skilfully  nurtured 
by  the  most  exaggerated  reports,  lost  all  sense 
of  proportion.  They  ignored  the  fact  that  the 
king  had  given  sufficient  proof  of  disinterested- 
ness and  of  devotion  to  his  country  not  to  deserve 
the  abominable  '  accusations  launched  against 
him.  They  forgot  the  invaluable  work  accom- 
plished, under  the  most  difficult  circumstances, 
during  twenty  years  of  ceaseless  labour,  the 
suppression  of  slavery,  of  cannibalism,  human 
sacrifices  and  tribal  wars,  and  remembered  only 
the  gross  indictments  of  Mr.  Morel  and  the  biased 
reports  of  Mr.  Roger  Casement  (1913). 

When,  the  next  year,  three  impartial  magis- 
trates sent  to  the  Congo  by  King  Leopold  reported 
that  the  excesses  had  been  repressed  and  advised 
a  complete  reform  of  the  administration,  their 
testimony  was  disregarded.  When  concessions 
were  abolished  and  drastic  measures  taken  against 
the  criminal  agents,  the  fact  remained  unnoticed. 
Even  after  the  Congo  had  become  a  Belgian  Colony 
(1908),  under  the  control  of  the  Belgian  Parlia- 
ment, when  every  scrap  of  authority  had  been 
taken  away  from  the  old  king  with  the  "  Domaine 
de  la  Couronne  "  (whose  revenue  was  to  be  devoted 
by  its  founder  to  public  works  in  Belgium), 
when  the  colony  had  been  entirely  reorganized, 
the  campaign  of  the  Congo  Reform  Association 
went  on  relentlessly.  Far  from  silencing  his 
accusers,  the  king's  death,  a  year  later,  was  made 
the  occasion  of  a  fresh  outburst  of  abuse. 


33O  BELGIUM 

The  good  faith  of  the  public  throughout  the 
Congo  campaign  is  unquestionable.  That  of  its 
main  engineers  is  at  least  open  to  doubt.  They 
organized  their  efforts  at  the  time  when  the  greatest 
difficulties  of  colonization  had  been  overcome. 
They  pursued  them  after  all  cause  for  abuse  had 
been  removed.  In  one  of  his  first  books,  British 
Gase  in  French  Congo,  Mr.  Morel  suggests  the 
partition  of  the  Free  State  between  this  country 
and  Germany.  In  his  last  books,  written  during 
the  war,  he  warmly  champions  the  internationaliza- 
tion of  Central  Africa  in  order  to  save  the  German 
Colonies.  Neither  can  it  be  urged  that  those 
two  men  who  roused  the  conscience  of  this  country 
against  the  Congo  atrocities  were  deeply  shocked 
by  more  recent  and  far  better  authenticated  atro- 
cities committed  in  Belgium.  If  they  were,  the 
only  remark  an  impartial  observer  might  venture 
to  make  is  that  their  actions,  during  the  war, 
scarcely  reflected  such  righteous  indignation. 
It  may  be  too  hasty  to  conclude  from  this,  and 
from  the  close  association  of  Erzberger,  Morel 
and  Casement  in  the  Congo  campaign,  that  this 
campaign  was  engineered  by  Germany.  We  do 
not  yet  possess  all  the  documents  necessary  to 
establish  this  fact.  We  know  enough,  however, 
to  deplore  that  a  movement  which  might  have 
been  so  beneficial  to  all  concerned  was  allowed 
to  fall  into  the  hands  of  unscrupulous  agitators, 
who  succeeded  in  estranging  for  a  time  Belgium 
from  Great  Britain,  and  incidentally  in  marring 
the  last  years  of  the  life  of  one  of  the  greatest 
Belgian  patriots. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII 

INTELLECTUAL  RENAISSANCE 

THE  remarkable  revival  of  Belgian  Arts  and 
Letters  which  followed  shortly  after  the  1830 
Revolution  is  one  of  the  most  striking  examples  of 
the  influence  exercised  by  political  events  on  intel- 
lectual activity.  For  over  a  century  the  nation 
had  been  devoid  of  self-expression,  and  during 
the  fifteen  years  of  Union  with  Holland  scarcely 
any  notable  works  were  produced.  No  doubt  this 
time,  being  one  of  economic  recovery,  was  not 
favourable  to  the  efflorescence  of  Art  and  Letters, 
but  the  intense  activity  of  the  period  of  inde- 
pendence appears  nevertheless  as  an  outburst 
of  national  pride  and  energy.  It  seems  as  if  all 
the  strength,  subdued  during  the  periods  of 
foreign  domination,  had  at  last  found  an  outlet, 
as  if  the  Belgians  had  waited  all  these  years  to 
assert  again  their  intellectual  power,  which  could 
not  or  would  not  flourish  for  the  benefit  of  foreigners. 
Architecture  no  longer  represents,  in  modern 
times,  what  it  represented  in  the  past,  and  it 
would  be  vain  to  search  in  modern  Belgium,  and, 
for  the  matter  of  that,  in  any  modern  country, 
for  the  manifestation  of  an  original  style  ex- 
pressing the  spirit  of  the  age.  There  are,  however, 
symptoms  of  vitality  which  must  not  be  entirely 
disregarded.  The  considerable  number  of  public 
buildings  erected  and  the  more  or  less  successful 
efforts  of  their  builders  are  by  themselves  a 


332  BELGIUM 

remarkable  testimony.  It  is  characteristic  of 
Belgian  civilization  and  of  its  irradicable  tra- 
ditional spirit  of  regionalism  that  the  Hotels 
de  Ville  built  in  imitation  of  the  Flemish 
Renaissance  are  particularly  numerous,  and  even 
in  some  cases,  such  as  the  Maison  communale 
of  Schaarbeek,  particularly  impressive.  Some 
reconstitutions  were  also  attempted,  as,  for  in- 
stance, the  Antwerp  Exchange  and  the  Palace 
of  Margaret  of  Austria  in  Malines.  The  only 
strikingly  original  monument  is  the  Palace  of 
Justice  in  Brussels,  built  by  Poelaert  (1870-79). 
It  is  the  result  of  an  extraordinary  medley  of 
styles,  from  the  Assyrian  onwards,  and  presents 
one  of  the  most  pathetic  and  gigantic  efforts 
to  create  a  beautiful  monument  under  modern 
conditions.  This  huge  building  was  intended 
by  the  Belgian  people  to  be  the  apotheosis  of 
Right.  Not  only  of  the  Justice  of  everyday  courts, 
but  also  of  international  Justice  and  of  the  right, 
so  long  violated  on  Belgian  soil,  of  the  people 
to  dispose  of  themselves. 

Wandering  through  the  most  important  squares 
and  gardens  of  Belgian  towns,  the  stranger  will 
be  astonished  at  the  number  of  monuments  raised 
to  the  great  Belgians  of  the  past  and  to  the  heroes 
of  Belgian  history.  In  Brussels,  Antwerp,  Ghent, 
Bruges,  and  even  the  small  provincial  towns,  he 
will  find  statues  dedicated  not  only  to  the 
modern  kings  and  statesmen,  but  to  the  leaders 
of  the  various  revolts  against  foreign  oppression, 
to  the  great  artists  and  communal  tribunes. 
Almost  every  person  mentioned  in  this  book 
possesses  his  effigy,  and  the  town  of  Tongres  has 
gone  as  far  as  immortalizing  the  features  of  the 


HISTORICAL   SCULPTURE  333 

Celtic  chief  Ambiorix  in  token  of  his  resistance 
to  the  Roman  Legions.  All  these  statues  are 
not  necessarily  great  works  of  art,  nor  is  the 
historical  conception  which  their  ensemble  re- 
presents quite  above  criticism,  but,  if  one  remem- 
bers that  they  were  almost  all  raised  within  fifty 
years  of  the  declaration  of  Belgian  independence, 
one  may  at  least  understand  the  reason  of  their 
sudden  appearance.  In  spite  of  those  who  insist, 
in  flattering  terms,  on  Belgium's  youth,  she 
strongly  maintains  her  right  to  old  traditions 
and  wants  to  keep  her  ancient  heroes  before  her 
eyes.  More  or  less  consciously,  the  sculptors 
of  these  statues  realized  that  their  fathers  of 
the  Renaissance  and  the  Middle  Ages  had  as 
great  a  share  in  the  making  of  the  nation  as 
present  kings  and  ministers.  Their  sudden 
appearance  in  the  midst  of  Belgian  towns  was 
not  the  result  of  official  zeal,  but  the  living  symbol 
of  the  gratitude  of  new  to  old  Belgium.  Jacques 
van  Artevelde  in  Ghent,  Breydel  and  De  Coninck 
in  Bruges,  Egmont  and  Horn  in  Brussels  came 
into  their  own  at  last. 

Beside  these  historical  statues,  the  traveller 
will  find  some  remarkable  works  of  a  more  recent 
date  which  will  recommend  themselves  for  their 
purely  artistic  value  and  which  are  generally 
noticeable  for  their  feeling  for  movement  and 
muscular  effort.  In  many  ways,  the  qualities 
of  Rubens  were  revived  in  the  modern  school 
of  Belgian  sculpture,  and  the  Brabo  fountain 
in  Antwerp,  the  Death  of  Ompdrailles  and  the 
Riders'  Fight  in  Brussels  suffice  to  show  the 
influence  exercised  by  the  seventeenth  century 
school  of  painting  on  Jef.  Lambeaux,  Van  der 


334  BELGIUM 

Stappen  and  J.  de  Lalaing.  The  most  original 
of  Belgian  sculptors,  Constantin  Meunier  (1831- 
1904),  while  possessing  similar  plastic  qualities, 
opened  a  new  field  by  his  idealization  of  agricul- 
tural and  industrial  work.  His  miners,  dockers, 
puddlers,  and  field  labourers  are  known  to  all 
students  of  art  and  will  stand  in  the  future  as  the 
symbol  of  the  economic  renaissance  of  a  people 
who  could,  even  under  modern  conditions,  find  a 
kind  of  grim  attachment  to  their  labour. 

Cold  academic  compositions,  painted  under 
the  influence  of  the  chief  of  the  Imperial  French 
school  of  painting,  Louis  David,  were  the  only 
productions  of  Belgian  Art  at  the  beginning  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  In  no  domain  did  the 
fashion  change  more  abruptly,  on  the  morrow 
of  the  Revolution,  than  in  Belgian  historical 
paintings.  As  early  as  1833,  G.  Wappers  of 
Antwerp  exhibited  a  large  canvas  recording  an 
episode  of  the  recent  Revolution.  His  example 
was  followed  by  many  artists  at  the  time,  and 
Belgian  history  became  the  subject  of  a  great 
number  of  paintings,  whose  rather  theatrical 
and  pompous  style  does  not  entirely  succeed 
in  hiding  their  sincere  and  serious  qualities.  The 
French  style  of  David  was  soon  abandoned. 
Movement  and  colour,  so  inherent  in  the  Belgian 
temperament,  came  again  to  the  fore,  and,  though 
the  influence  of  Rubens  was  overmastering,  it 
was  at  least  a  national  influence,  and  soon  led, 
under  the  inspiration  of  Henri  Leys  (1815-69), 
to  the  production  of  historical  works  of  great 
interest.  The  latter's  frescoes  of  the  Hotel  de 
Ville  in  Antwerp,  illustrating  the  old  franchises 
and  privileges  of  the  town,  may;  still  be  considered 
as  a  striking  expression  of  municipal  freedom. 


"THK    ITODLKK,"    HY   CONSTANTIN    MKCNIKK   (1831-1904). 


MODERN  PAINTERS  335 

At  the  same  time,  a  great  number  of  painters, 
reacting  against  the  rather  artificial  style  of 
historical  paintings,  went  back  to  genre  pictures, 
in  which  Teniers  and  his  followers  had  excelled 
in  the  past.  Henri  de  Braekeleer  (1814-88) 
translated  the  simple,  intimate  poetry  of  modest 
interiors,  while  Joseph  Stevens  (1819-92)  devoted 
his  genius  to  scenes  of  dog  life.  Later,  when 
social  questions  came  to  the  fore  and  when  the 
attention  of  the  public  was  centred  on  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  poor  and  destitute,  De  Groux,  L£on 
Frederic  and,  even  more,  Eugene  Laermans  (b.  1864) 
conveyed  in  their  works  a  burning  sympathy 
for  the  wretches  and  vagabonds  straying  through 
the  towns  and  the  Flemish  country-side.  The 
latter's  work  is  strongly  influenced  by  Breughel. 
Through  an  extraordinary  paradox,  Belgian  Art, 
which  only  represented  scenes  of  merriment  during 
the  darkest  days  of  the  Spanish  occupation, 
gave  far  more  importance  to  scenes  of  misery 
during  the  modern  time  of  great  public  pros- 
perity, so  revolting  did  it  seem  that  such  pros- 
perity should  not  be  shared  by  all. 

Another  artist  in  whose  works  Breughel's  in- 
spiration is  apparent  is  Jacob  Smits  (b.  1856). 
He  is  almost  the  only  one  who  may  be  considered 
as  a  representative  of  religious  painting  in 
Belgium.  Like  Breughel,  he  succeeded  in  bring- 
ing the  Christian  story  close  to  the  people's 
hearts  amidst  Flemish  contemporary  surroundings. 

A  school  of  art  in  which  colour  and  light  play 
such  a  predominant  part  is  bound  to  produce  valu- 
able landscapes.  In  this  new  form,  the  love  of 
country  expressed  itself  far  more  sincerely  than 
in  the  earlier  historical  compositions.  Under 


336  BELGIUM 

the  influence  of  Henri  Boulanger,  Belgium  pro- 
duced, in  later  years,  a  number  of  first-rate  land- 
scape painters  such  as  Verwee,  Courtens,  Gilspul, 
Baertsoen  and  Emile  Claus.  Flemish  landscapes 
exert  a  far  greater  attraction  than  the  Walloon 
hills,  and,  generally  speaking,  the  Flemish  element 
dominates  in  the  modern  school  as  it  did  in  the 
old.  For  the  golden  light  lies  on  the  damp  fields 
of  Flanders,  and  Flemish  artists  have  not  yet 
given  up  the  hope  of  capturing  it. 

The  artistic  Renaissance  of  modern  Belgium 
might  have  been  expected.  The  worship  of 
colour  and  form  had  always  been  a  strong  char- 
acteristic of  the  race,  and  even  in  the  drab  years 
of  the  Austrian  regime  Belgian  painters  had 
never  ceased  to  work.  A  far  more  startling  deve- 
lopment was  the  appearance,  towards  the  middle 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  of  a  national  Belgian 
school  of  literature.  In  the  Middle  Ages,  Flemish 
and  French  letters  in  Belgium  had  produced 
some  remarkable  works.  Owing  to  the  scholastic 
character  of  these  writings  and  to  the  predomi- 
nant influence  of  French  culture,  they  could  not, 
however,  be  considered  as  a  direct  expression  of 
the  people's  spirit.  In  many  ways,  the  modern 
school  of  Belgian  Letters  was  a  new  departure  : 
French  and  Flemish  influences  were  more  evenly 
balanced,  and,  though  they  worked  separately, 
Flemish  and  French  writers,  coming  into  close 
contact  with  the  people's  soul,  expressed  the 
same  feelings  and  the  same  aspirations.  For, 
if  we  make  due  allowance  for  the  part  played  by 
purely  Walloon  writers,  specially  novelists  and 
story-tellers,  the  main  feature  of  the  Belgian 
school  of  literature  in  the  nineteenth  century 


NATIONAL  LITERATURE  337 

is  the  break  up  of  the  language  barrier.  Strange 
as  it  may  seem,  a  comparison  between  writers  in 
French  and  Flemish  reveals  a  series  of  similarities 
so  striking  that,  supposing  an  adequate  translation 
were  possible,  there  would  be  no  difficulty  whatever 
in  including  them  in  the  same  group.  The  main 
reason  for  this  is,  no  doubt,  that  almost  all  the 
leaders  of  the  movement  in  French,  starting  with 
De  Coster  and  Lemonnier,  up  to  the  contemporary 
period  of  Verhaeren  and  Maeterlinck,  are  of 
Flemish  extraction,  and  that  their  best  works 
are  imbued  with  Flemish  traditions  and  Flemish 
temperament.  Broadly  speaking,  one  might  say 
that  most  of  the  Belgian  French  writers  are  Flem- 
ings writing  in  French  and  are  far  closer  to  their 
Northern  brethren  than  to  the  French  whose 
language  they  use.  Charles  de  Coster,  who  may 
be  considered  as  the  father  of  this  particular 
branch  of  the  school,  published  in  1868  the  Legend 
of  Ulenspiegel,  which  is  nothing  but  a  prose  epic 
in  which  the  legendary  character  of  Owliglass 
is  identified  with  one  of  the  heroes  of  the  six- 
teenth century  revolution  against  Spain.  Camille 
Lemonnier  (1844-1913),  in  his  best  novels,  deals 
with  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  Flemish 
peasantry.  The  very  soul  of  Flanders  shines 
through  the  whole  work  of  Belgium's  great 
national  poet,  Emile  Verhaeren,  from  his  early 
Les  Flamandes  (1883)  to  the  six  volumes  of  Toute 
la  Flandre  (1904-12),  and  in  all  his  earlier  writings 
(1889-98),  Maurice  Maeterlinck  remains  under 
the  influence  of  Flemish  mysticism  and  miracle 
plays.  This  may  seem  a  one-sided  conclusion, 
and  the  names  of  many  Belgian  writers  of  great 
distinction  may  be  quoted  against  it,  but  if 

22 


338  BELGIUM 

we  were  to  examine  the  question  more  closely, 
this  conclusion  would  be  rather  verified  than 
disproved.  From  a  purely  historical  point  of 
view,  the  general  trend  of  inspiration  is  cer- 
tainly towards  the  North  rather  than  towards 
the  South. 

The  main  features  which  characterize  the 
Belgian  writers  in  French  and  confer  on  them  a 
truly  national  originality  are,  on  one  side,  a  ten- 
dency to  emphasize  the  intimate  joys  of  life,  and 
on  the  other,  an  intense  feeling  for  mysticism, 
sometimes  quite  dissociated  from  any  dogmatic 
faith.  Just  as  Flemish  Art  is  remarkable  for 
the  religious  work  of  the  fifteenth  century  and 
the  sensuous  productions  of  the  seventeenth, 
so  Belgian  writing  in  the  nineteenth  oscillates 
between  the  spirit  of  Jordaens  and  that  of  Memling. 
In  spite  of  some  modernist  tendencies  and  a  great 
technical  boldness,  Belgian  literature  remains 
deeply  influenced  by  medisevalism.  It  belongs  to 
the  twentieth  century,  even  when  written  in  the 
nineteenth,  or  to  the  fifteenth.  The  classical  atmo- 
sphere of  the  French  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries  is  totally  absent.  Those  who  care  for 
the  delicately  poised  balance  of  classical  taste, 
for  wit  and  brilliance  of  dialogue,  will  be  discon- 
certed by  childishness  or  fierce  passion.  It  is 
an  abrupt  literature,  but  spontaneous  and  sin- 
cere, which  has  not  been  spoilt  by  formalism 
and  scepticism,  but  which  has  not  acquired, 
from  a  purely  technical  point  of  view,  the  per- 
fection of  the  French.  Having  remained  inarticu- 
late during  the  two  centuries  of  classical  education, 
it  has  lost  nothing  and  gained  nothing  through 
them. 


THE  FLEMISH  MOVEMENT  339 

It  is  significant  that  the  movement  started  in 
Flanders  before  influencing  the  French-speaking 
part  of  the  country.  The  Flemish  novelist, 
Henri  Conscience  (1812-83)  had  devoted  a  series 
of  books  to  the  history  of  his  country  long 
before  De  Coster  wrote  his  Ulenspiegel.  The 
Flemish  language  was,  at  the  time,  struggling 
against  great  difficulties.  It  had  been  entirely 
neglected,  from  the  literary  point  of  view,  during 
the  eighteenth  century,  and  suffered  now  from 
the  natural  reaction  which  followed  the  1830 
Revolution.  It  had  reaped  little  benefit  from  the 
fifteen  years  of  union  with  Holland,  and  there  was 
a  general  belief,  among  the  Flemings  themselves, 
that  it  would  never  recover  its  ancient  position. 
The  Flemish  literary  Renaissance  was  initiated 
by  a  small  group  of  intellectuals,  headed  by  Jan 
Frans  Willems  (1793-1846),  who  exerted  all  their 
energy  to  revive  Flemish  customs,  collect  folk 
songs  and  traditions,  and  obtain  a  liberal  inter- 
pretation of  the  Constitution  which  proclaimed 
liberty  of  language.  The  Flemish  Movement 
received  a  new  impulse  when  the  young  poet 
Albrecht  Rodenbach  (1856-80)  spread  its  influence 
to  all  Flemish  intellectual  circles.  The  Flemings 
began  to  realize  that  they  possessed  in  Guido 
Gezelle  (1813-99)  a  religious  poet  whose  work 
could  bear  comparison  with  the  best  French 
writings  in  the  country.  They  saw,  growing  up 
around  them,  a  new  school  of  writers  of  great 
promise,  and  they  insisted  on  their  language  being 
recognized,  not  only  in  principle,  but  in  fact, 
as^the  second  official  language  of  the  country. 
In  1898  a  law  was  passed  removing  some  of 
the  causes  of  grievances,  such  as  the  inability 


34O  BELGIUM 

of  judges  and  officials  to  understand  the  language 
of  the  people  with  whom  they  dealt.  Progressively 
the  Flemish  language  came  into  its  own  in  matters 
of  education  and  administration,  and,  before  the 
war,  the  only  large  question  still  under  discussion 
was  the  creation  of  a  Flemish  University.  The 
principle  of  such  an  institution  had  been  admitted, 
but  the  relationship  between  this  new  University 
and  the  old  French  University  of  Ghent  had  not 
yet  been  established. 

It  must  be  understood  that  the  language  ques- 
tion remained  throughout  a  local  quarrel  between 
two  sets  of  Flemish  intellectuals.  It  was  not 
a  quarrel  between  Walloons  and  Flemings,  and 
administrative  separation  was  scarcely  ever 
mentioned.  It  was  not  even,  before  the  war, 
a  quarrel  between  the  Flemish  people,  who  knew 
only  Flemish,  and  the  Flemish  bourgeoisie,  who 
preferred  to  talk  French.  It  was  a  dispute 
between  a  few  intellectual  Flemings,  who  wished 
to  restore  the  language  to  the  position  it  occupied 
before  the  Spanish  and  Austrian  regimes  silenced 
it,  and  the  Flemings  who  wanted  to  restrict  it 
to  the  common  people  and  treat  it  as  a  patois. 
It  was,  to  put  it  bluntly,  a  discussion  between 
those  who  ignored  history  and  those  who  realized 
that  the  independence  of  the  Belgian  provinces 
was  bound  to  bring  about  a  revival  of  Flemish 
Letters,  as  it  was  causing  a  revival  of  French 
Letters.  For  two  centuries  the  country  had 
remained  silent ;  she  was  now  able  to  speak  again 
and  to  use  all  the  riches  and  the  resources  of  her 
two  languages.  Instead  of  threatening  national 
unity,  bilingualism  was  its  necessary  condition. 
For  real  differences  do  not  lie  in  modes  of  ex- 


COMMON   TEMPERAMENT  341 

pression,  but  in  the  feeling  and  the  soul  of  the 
people,  and  it  matters  little  if  an  image  or  a 
thought  is  expressed  in  one  language  or  another, 
as  long  as  they  reflect  a  common  temperament 
and  common  aspirations. 


CHAPTER    XXIX 

CONCLUSION 

THE  part  played  by  Belgium  during  the  war 
is  well  known.  Those  who  knew  the  country 
and  its  history  were  not  astonished  at  the  attitude 
observed  by  King  Albert  and  his  people  on 
August  3,  1914.  Quite  apart  from  any  foreign 
sympathies,  no  other  answer  could  be  given  to 
an  ultimatum  which  directly  challenged  Belgium's 
rights.  A  modern  nation  might  have  been  inti- 
midated, but  an  old  nation  like  Belgium,  which 
had  struggled  towards  independence  through  long 
and  weary  periods  of  warfare  and  foreign  domina- 
tion, was  bound  to  resist.  In  challenging  King 
Albert  and  his  ministers,  the  German  Government 
challenged  at  the  same  time  all  the  leaders  of  the 
Belgian  people,  from  De  Coninck  to  Vonck  and 
De  Merode,  and  the  reply  of  the  Belgian  Govern- 
ment was  stiffened  by  an  age-long  tradition  of 
stubborn  resistance  and  by  the  ingrained  instinct 
of  the  people  that  this  had  to  be  done  because 
there  was  nothing  else  to  do. 

History  also  accounts  for  the  desperate  fight 
waged  by  the  small  and  ill-equipped  army  against 
the  first  military  Power  in  Europe.  Liege,  Haelen, 
the  three  sorties  from  Antwerp,  the  ten  terrible 
days  on  the  Yser,  are  not  due  merely  to  the  per- 
sonal valour  of  the  leaders  and  of  their  troops, 
but  to  the  fact  that  they  were  Belgian  leaders 
and  Belgian  troops,  that  they  belonged  to  a 

343 


GERMAN  INVASION  343 

nation  conscious  of  her  destiny  and  who  had 
never  despaired  in  the  past,  in  spite  of  the  ordeals 
to  which  she  was  subjected  and  of  the  scorn  of 
those  who  questioned  her  very  existence.  The 
same  thing  might  be  said  of  all  Allied  nations. 
Even  so  fought  the  British,  even  so  fought  the 
French  ;  the  only  difference  lies  in  the  fact  that 
their  heroism  was  expected  as  a  matter  of  course, 
while  that  of  the  Belgians  came  to  many  as 
a  surprise.  For  British  traditions  and  French 
traditions  were  well  known,  while  the  past  of 
Belgium  was  blurred  amidst  the  confusion  of 
Feudalism  and  foreign  rule. 

On  the  Yser,  in  October  1914,  the  Belgian 
forces  had  been  reduced  from  95,000  to  38,000 
bayonets.  These  last  defences,  preserving  about 
twenty  square  miles  of  independent  territory, 
were  maintained  during  four  years  while  the 
army  was  refilling  its  ranks  and  reorganizing 
its  supplies.  It  took  its  share  in  all  the  concerted 
actions  of  the  Allies  in  Flanders,  and  when,  at 
last,  the  final  offensive  was  launched,  on  September 
28,  1918,  King  Albert  was  placed  at  the  head  of 
the  Anglo-Franco-Belgian  forces. 

Meanwhile  the  civil  population,  under  German 
occupation,  was  undergoing  one  of  the  severest 
trials  that  the  nation  had  ever  experienced,  not 
excepting  revolutionary  oppression  and  the  Spanish 
Fury.  The  Germans  used  every  means  in  their 
power  to  disintegrate  the  people's  unity,  break 
its  resistance  and  enlist  its  services.  Terrorism 
was  used,  from  the  first,  at  Aerschot,  Louvain, 
Tamines,  Andenne  and  Dinant,  whilst  the  invasion 
progressed  towards  the  heart  of  the  country. 
Then,  under  the  governorship  of  Von  Bissing, 


344  BELGIUM 

the  method  was  altered,  and  attempts  were  made 
to  induce  the  chiefs  of  industry  and  their  workmen 
to  resume  work  for  the  greater  benefit  of  the 
enemy.  This  policy  culminated  in  the  sinister 
deportations,  pursued  during  the  winter  of  1916-17, 
which  enslaved  about  150,000  men  and  compelled 
them  to  work  either  behind  the  German  front 
or  in  German  kommandos.  Enormous  fines  and 
contributions  were  levied  on  towns  and  provinces, 
the  country  was  emptied  of  all  raw  material, 
private  property  and  the  produce  of  the  soil 
were  systematically  requisitioned,  and  the  popula- 
tion would  have  been  decimated  by  famine  but  for 
the  help  of  the  Commission  for  Relief  in  Belgium. 
When  it  became  evident,  in  1917,  that  the  passive 
resistance  of  the  workers  could  not  be  broken, 
all  the  industries  which  had  not  been  comman- 
deered were  entirely  or  partially  destroyed  and 
the  machinery  transported  to  Germany. 

The  most  insidious  attack  of  Governor  von 
Hissing's  policy  on  the  Belgian  nation  was  his 
attempt  to  use  the  Flemish  Movement  as  a  means 
to  divide  the  Belgians  against  themselves.  The 
governor,  who  explained  his  intentions  in  a  re- 
markable document  known  as  his  "  Political 
Testament,"  undertook  this  campaign  under  the 
assumption  that  Belgium  was  an  artificial  creation 
of  the  Vienna  Congress  and  that  such  a  thing  as 
Belgian  nationality  did  not  really  exist.  German 
university  professors  had  been  at  great  pains  to 
explain  to  the  German  and  neutral  public  that 
nationality  could  only  be  created  by  unity  of 
race  or  language,  and  that  Belgium,  possessing 
neither  of  these  attributes,  could  consequently 
claim  no  right  to  independence.  Following  this 


VON  BISSINGS   INTRIGUES  345 

trend  of  thought,  the  governor  and  his  advisers 
considered  the  Flemish  Movement  as  the  outcome 
of  internal  dissensions  between  Walloons  and 
Flemings,  and  hoped  that,  by  encouraging  the 
Flemings,  they  would  succeed  in  dividing  the 
country  and  in  securing  the  protectorate  of 
Flanders. 

First  the  creation  of  a  Flemish  University 
in  Ghent,  replacing  the  French  University,  ab- 
sorbed the  attention  of  the  German  adminis- 
tration. Having  secured  the  support  of  a  few 
extreme  "flamingants  "  known  as  "activists  "  and 
completed  the  professorial  board  with  foreigners, 
they  hastily  inaugurated  the  new  institution 
(1916).  To  their  great  surprise,  all  Flemish  or- 
ganizations protested  indignantly  against  this 
action,  contending  that  the  occupying  Power 
had  no  right  to  interfere  in  internal  policy.  The 
next  step  was  a  series  of  decrees  establishing 
Administrative  Separation,  with  two  capitals 
at  Namur  and  Brussels  and  a  complete  division 
of  Government  offices  between  the  Flemish  and 
Walloon  districts  of  the  country.  This  measure 
failed  like  the  first,  owing  to  the  patriotic  resistance 
of  the  Belgian  officials  and  the  inability  of  the 
Germans  to  replace  them,  and  long  before  they 
were  obliged  to  evacuate  the  country  the  Germans 
had  given  up  the  hope  of  mastering  the  absurd 
and  unscientific  decision  of  Walloons  and  Flemings 
alike  to  remain  one  people,  as  history  had  made 
them. 

Professor  Van  der  Linden  has  given  to  his 
valuable  work  on  Belgian  history  the  sub-title 
of  The  Making  of  a  Nation,  and  shown  conclu- 
sively how  the  present  institutions  of  Belgium 


BELGIUM 

are  the  result  of  various  contributions  from  the 
Middle  Ages  to  the  present  time.  But  a  book 
on  Belgian  history  might  just  as  aptly  be  called 
The  Resistance  of  a  Nation,  since  history  tells 
us  not  only  how  the  monument  was  built,  but 
also  how  it  was  not  destroyed  in  spite  of  the 
most  adverse  circumstances.  From  that  point 
of  view,  Belgium  may  indeed  be  considered  as 
the  embodiment  of  steadfastness,  rather  than 
that  of  sheer  heroism.  She  has  succeeded  in 
preserving,  far  more  than  in  acquiring.  From 
her  fifteenth  century  frontiers  she  has  been 
reduced  to  her  present  limited  boundaries,  which, 
nevertheless,  contain  all  the  elements  of  her  past 
and  present  genius.  She  sacrificed  territory, 
centuries  of  independence,  long  periods  of  pros- 
perity, but  she  remained  essentially  one  people 
and  one  land,  a  small  people  on  a  small  land, 
combining  the  genius  of  two  races  and  two 
languages  and  acting  as  a  natural  intermediary 
between  the  great  nations  of  Europe.  Her  history, 
up  to  her  last  fight,  is  nothing  but  the  struggle  of 
a  nation  to  assert  her  right  to  live,  in  spite  of  her 
weakness,  in  the  midst  of  great  military  Powers. 
Unity,  first  constituted  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
is  at  once  endangered  by  the  rule  of  a  foreign 
dynasty.  During  the  first  part  of  the  sixteenth 
century  the  two  influences,  national  and  foreign, 
contend  in  the  counsels  of  the  nation.  The 
latter  tendency  prevails,  and,  though  remaining 
nominally  independent  in  regional  matters,  the 
country  passes  under  foreign  rule.  When,  in 
the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  after 
the  failure  of  several  insurrections  under  the 
Austrian  and  French  regimes,  independence  is 


TREATY   OF    VERSAILLES  34? 

finally  granted,  and  when  a  new  dynasty  is  at 
last  inaugurated  as  a  symbol  of  national  unity, 
Belgium  remains  nevertheless  under  foreign  tute- 
lage. Her  independence  is  bought  at  the  price 
of  neutrality ;  and  it  is  only  after  the  violation 
of  this  guaranteed  neutrality  by  two  of  the  fore- 
most Powers  which  established  it  that  the  cycle 
of  Belgium's  trials  comes  to  an  end  and  that 
she  is  allowed  to  exert  her  sovereign  rights  in 
external  as  well  as  internal  affairs. 

Some  may  consider  that  Belgium  has  not 
reaped  important  advantages  from  the  treaty 
of  Versailles,  and  may  be  inclined  to  compare 
the  small  territories  of  the  Walloon  districts  of 
Eupen  and  Malmedy  with  the  efforts  made  during 
the  last  few  years.  But,  quite  apart  from  economic 
indemnities,  which  may  prove  a  great  asset  if  they 
materialize,  Belgium  has  conquered  a  far  more 
valuable  possession  than  any  territory  could  give. 
For  the  first  time  in  modern  history  she  has 
received  full  recognition.  She  is  at  last  allowed 
to  make  friends  with  her  friends  and  to  beware 
of  her  enemies,  if  she  has  any  reason  to  fear  them. 
Through  the  bitter  struggle  of  the  last  few  years 
Belgium  has  conquered  what  other  nations  might 
consider  as  their  birthright — the  right  to  be  herself, 
the  master  of  her  fate,  the  captain  of  her  soul. 

It  becomes  more  and  more  apparent  to  foreign 
consciousness  that  her  future  is  bound  up  with 
that  of  Europe.  Her  welfare  will  be  Europe's 
welfare,  her  ruin,  the  ruin  of  Western  civilization 
and  Christianity.  Unless  through  the  League 
of  Nations,  or  through  any  other  means,  justice 
prevails  in  international  relations,  the  history  of 
her  tribulations  is  not  yet  closed,  for  only  under 


348  BELGIUM 

a  regime  of  justice  may  the  weak  hope  to  live  in 
freedom  and  in  peace. 

Among  the  pantheon  of  monuments  erected  by 
modern  Belgium  to  the  heroes  of  her  past  history, 
the  stranger  will  find,  with  some  surprise,  in  the 
midst  of  the  Place  Royale  in  Brussels,  an  eques- 
trian statue  of  Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  who,  nine 
centuries  ago,  sold  his  land  to  join  the  first  crusade, 
and  who  refused  to  wear  a  crown  of  gold  where 
his  Saviour  had  worn  a  crown  of  thorns.  Quite 
close  stands  the  Palace  where  another  Belgian  prince 
returned  lately,  after  four  years'  incessant  labour 
at  the  side  of  his  soldiers  amid  the  sodden  fields 
of  Flanders.  There  is  a  great  contrast  between 
the  civilization  of  the  eleventh  and  that  of  the 
twentieth  century,  between  the  Great  Adventure 
sought  by  the  old  crusaders  and  the  Great  War 
forced  on  Western  Europe,  between  the  mystic 
idealism  of  the  Middle  Ages  and  the  practical 
idealism  of  modern  times.  On  both  occasions, 
however,  Belgium  was  placed  in  the  van,  and  found 
in  Godfrey  IV  and  Albert  I  two  leaders  whose 
courage  and  dignity  will  stand  as  the  purest 
symbol  of  chivalry  and  national  honour. 


INDEX 


Administration,  106,  107,  119, 
125,  126,  145,  152,  155, 
188,  209,  211,  261,  205, 
269,  277,  278,  286,  315, 

317.  34°.  345 

Aerschot,  Duke  of,  193 

Agadir,  312,  313 

Agriculture,  74,  75,  122,  167, 
214,  215,  216,  247,  276, 
320,  323 

Aix-la-Chapelle,  43,  44,  248 
Treaty  of,  238,  239 

Alba,  Duke  of,  183,  184,  189, 
208 

Albert,  Archduke,  139,  152, 
204,  205,  206,  208,  209, 
210,  217,  218,  220,  228 

Albert  I,  310,  342.  343,  348 

Algeciras,  313 

Alost,  90,  165,  169,  188 

Alsace — 

House  of,  80 

Philip  of,  80,  81,  89,  97 

Thierry  of,  73,  80,  89 

Amiens,  Peace  of,  276 

Anabaptism,   168,  171,  172 

Anjou,  Duke  of,  193,  194,  195, 
200,  201,  202 

Anneessens,  Fran9ois,  252 

Antoine  of  Burgundy,  104,  105 

Antwerp,  70,  115,  117,  121, 
146,  155,  163,  164,  183, 
186,  188,  192,  201,  202, 
207,  209,  214,  216,  217, 
230,  246,  248,  251,  259, 
263,  276,  279,  282,  287, 
296,  322,  323 
Camp  of,  307,  308,  311,  312, 

342 
Cathedral,  93,  221,  223 


Antwerp,  Fall  of,  203 
Lutheranism,  168 
Monuments,  332,  333,  334 

School   Of,    221,    222,    229 

Treaty  of,  see  Barriers 
Architecture,    88,    91,   92,   93, 
112,   113,   114,   124,   130, 
224,  225,  331 
Ardennes,  29,  30 
Armada,  215 

Armentieres,  168,  180,  238 
Army  defences,  307,  313,   314, 

343 

Arnolfini,  139 
Arras,   61,   97,    117,    124,    141, 

143,   195,  205 
Bishopric,   32,   38,  64,  175, 

176 
Confederation  of,  196,   199, 

201 

Peace  of,  207,  218 

Union  of,  196,  197 
Art,   125,   130,   131,   133,   134, 
135.   136,  137.   138,   U9, 
147,    221-29,   258,    331- 

4i 

Augsburg  League,  239,  241 
Austrasia,  41 


Baden,  Treaty  of,  242 

Baertsoen,  336 

Baldwin  I,  Iron  Arm.  60 

Baldwin  II,  60 

Baldwin  IV,  The  Bearded,  61 

Baldwin  V,  55,  62,  97 

Baldwin  VI  of  Flanders  and  I 

of  Hainault,  63,  97 
Baldwin  VII  of  Flanders  and  of 

Hainault,  64 


349 


350 


BELGIUM 


Baldwin  VIII  of  Flanders  and 

V  of  Hainault,  81,  89 
Baldwin  II,  Count  of  Guines, 

97 

Banning,  Emile,  310,  311 
Barriers,  248,  249,  259 

Treaty  of  the,  243 
Bases  of  Separation,  291,  292, 

293 
Bastille,   Taking  of  the,   263, 

286 

Beauneveu,  Andr6,  137,  138 
Beggards,    beguines,    90,    127, 

128,  136,  168 
Beggars,  178,  179,  184 

of  Religion,  179 

of  State,   179 

Sea,  185 

Belfries,   71,   73,   74,   75,    112 
Belgae,  30 

Belgica  Secunda,  30,  34,  40 
Belgiojioso,  Count  of,  260,  262 
Belgo-Romans,  30,  32,  37 
Bergh,  Henry,  Count  of,  210, 

234 
Berlaymont,   Charles  de,    175, 

178,  188 

Berlin,  Congress  of,  327 
Bilingualism,    94,   95,    96,   98, 

104,   125,  126,  284,  285, 

339,  340 
Bishoprics    and    bishops,    32, 

38,  40,  64,  219 
Bismarck,  307,  308,  327 
Blondeel,  Lancelot,  153 
Boendaele,  Jean,  127 
Bois-le-Duc,     156,    210,     271, 

282 

Bollandists,  227 
Bollandus,  226 
Boulanger,  Henri,  336 
Bouts,  Thierry,  139 
Bouvines,  81 
Brabangonne    Revolution,    see 

Revolution 
Breda,  209,  234,  263,  264 

Congress  of,  187 
Br6derode,  178,  181 
Breughel,  Peter,  223,  229,  258, 

259,  335 

Brialmont,  General,  308,  311 
Broederlam,  Melchior,   138 


Brotherhood  of  the  Active 
Love  of  My  Neighbour, 
261 

Brothers  of  the  Common  Life, 
127,  128,  136,  168,  169 

Bruges,  63,  76,  90,  102,  114, 
115,  117,  118-22,  138, 
144,  153,  162,  163,  202, 

217-  324 

Belfry,  75,  77,  113 
Chapelle  du  Saint  Sang,  117 
Churches,  75,  92 
Palais  de  Justice,  153 
Statues,  332,  333 
Town  Hall,  112,  124 
Bruno,  54,  55 

Brussels,  74,  75,  102,  114,  115, 
151,  154,  155,  156,  161, 
181,  184,  191,  192,  203, 
206,  214,  217,  239,  246, 
248,  249,  251,  252,  263, 
266,  269,  286,  320,  324, 

345 

Industry,  165,  216,  247 
Palais  de  Justice,  332 
St.  Gudule,  93 
Statues,  332,  333,  348 
Town  Hall,  112,  113,  124 
Union  of,  190,  193,  196 
Burgundy,  House  of,  142,  153, 
173 


Calais,  205 

Calvinism,  172,  173,  177,  178, 
179,  181,  182,  183,  187, 
189,  192,  194,  195,  197, 
198,  202,  203,  207,  208, 
219,  220,  228 

Cambrai,  71,  201 

Bishopric,    32,    38,    39,   40, 

57,  64,  176 
Peace  of,  152 
Treaty  of,  148,  158 

Cambraisis,  64 

Campin,  Robert,  138 

Campo  Formio,  Treaty  of,  274 

Capuchins,  220,  227 

Caroline  Concession,  157 

Carolingian  dynasty,  42,  52, 
55.  60 

Carthusians,  132 


INDEX 


351 


Casement,  Roger,  329,  330 
Casimir,  John,  195 
Casimir,  Duke  Albert,  260,  262 
Cateau-Cambraisis,  Treaty  of, 

i?4 

Catholics,  Catholicism,  177,179, 
181,  182,  187,  189,  190, 
192,  195.  196,  198,  199, 
205,  207,  208,  211,  213, 

219,    221,    222,    224,    26O, 

274,  276 

Cauldron,  War  of  the,  259 

Celtic,  30,  34 

Centralization,  36,  66,  80,  155, 

160,   162,   168,  316 
Charlemagne,   42,   43,   45,   46, 

47,  48,  154 

Charleroi,  238,  282,  321 
Charles,  Archduke,  240 
Charles  de  Lorraine,  249,  256, 

261 

Charles,  Duke,  55 
Charles  the  Bald,  48 
Charles    the    Bold,    109,    no, 

115,   118,  119,  123,   140, 

M5 

Charles  the  Fat,  48,  50 

Charles  the  Good,  73 

Charles  V,  147,  149-56,  158, 
160,  161,  166,  109,  170, 
171,  172,  175,  176,  185, 
190,  197,  207,  219,  222, 
256,  280,  302,  323 

Charles  II  of  Spain,  237,  239, 
240 

Charles  III  of  Spain  and  VI  of 
Austria,  241,  242,  246, 
250 

Chastellain,  129,  130 

Chazal,  Baron,  307 

Chepy,  270 

Chievres,  148,  149,  150.  151 

Christianity,  Christianization, 
32.  37.  38.  39,  45.  64 

Cistercians,  74,  89 

Clodion,  33 

Cloth  Hall,  see  Halles 

Clovis,  37 

Clunisians,  58,  89 

Coal  Wood,  29,  30,  31,  33,  34, 

35.  in 

Cockerill,  John,  282,  321 


Cockerill,  William,  276 
Cologne,  bishopric,  32,  40,    54 
Communes,  66,  67,  68,  72,  73, 

74,  78,  89,  103,  109,  114, 

144,   156,   167,  192,   195, 

315,  3i8 
Compromise  of  the  Nobles,  178, 

181,  184 
Concordat,  276 
Conecte,  Thomas,  132 
Confederation    of    Arras,    see 

Arras 
Conference,  The  London,  289, 

290,  291 
Congo,  313,  325-30 

Campaign,  312 
Conscience,  Henri,  339 
Consulta,  175,  176 
Council    of    Blood,    184,    189, 

208 

Council  of  Brabant,  263 
Council  of  State,  175,  176,  177, 

180,  188,  218,  241 
Council  of  Trent,  225 
Council  of  Troubles.  184,  187, 

188 

Courtens,  335 
Courtrai,  90,  238 

Battle  of,  78,  84 
Crusade,  59,  64,  89 

D'Alton,  General,  263,  264 

Damme,  90,  163 

Daret,  Jacques,  138 

De  Braekeleer,   Henri,  335 

De  Broqueville,  313 

De  Coninck,  84,  333,  342 

De  Coster,  337,  339 

De  Groux,  335 

De  Lalaing,  see  Lalaing 

De  la  Marck,  Erard,   147,   158 

De  la  Marck,  Robert,  148 

De  la  Pasture,  Roger,  see  Van- 

der  Weyden 
De  Ligne,  Charles  Joseph,  249, 

250 

De  Merode,  291,  342 
De  Paepe,  Cesar,  319 
De  Potter,  287 
De  Witt,  237,  238 
Dietschen,  see  Thiois 
Dijon,  132,  137,  138 


352 


BELGIUM 


Dinant,   166,   216,  343 

Sack  of,  109 
Dixmude,  go 
Don  Juan,  190,  191,  193,  194, 

236 
Douai,  61,  97,  225,  238 

University,  224 
Downs,  Battle  of  the,  215 
Dufay,  Guillaume,  130 
Dumouiiez,  269,  271,  273,  274 
Dunes,  Battle  of  the,  235 
Dunkirk,   202,   205,   215,   216, 

247 
Duplice,  310 

Edict  ot  Marche,  190 
Edit  Perpetuel,  190 
Education,  127,  128,  169,  227, 

250,   258,  282,  283,  318, 

340 
Egmont,   Count  of,    174,    175, 

176,  177,  184,  333 
Egmont  Count,  210 
Entente  Cordiale,  310 
Erasmus,  169 
Ernest,  Archduke,  205 
Eupen  and  Malmedy,  301,  347 
Exchange,  113,  114,  121,  164, 

215,  332 

Farnese,  Alex.,  Duke  of  Parma, 
194,  196,  199,  200,  201, 
202,  204,  208,  218,  230 

Ferdinand,     Cardinal     Infant, 

235 

Ferrand  of  Portugal,  81 
Feudalism,  49,  50,  55,  72,  77, 

84 
Finance,    119,    121,    158,    282, 

283,  308,   311,  312,   323, 

328 

Flemings,  34,  48,  198 
Flemish  Movement,  339,  345 
Fleurus,  239,  271 
Fontainebleau,  Treaty  of,  259 
Fontenoy,  248 
Francis  I  of  France,  150,  151, 

153,  157 

Francis  II,  268,  271,  274 
Franco-Prussian  War,  307,  308, 

309 
Franks,  41,  42 


Franks — Invasion,  33,  34,  35 

Salian,  41 

Fr6d6ric,  L6on,  335 
French  Fury,  202 

Revolution,  see  Revolution 
Frere-Orban,  306 
Froissart,  Jean,  129 
Fumes,  238,  242,  247 

Gavere,  114 
Gelder,   157,  158 
Duke  of,  150 

Gerard  de  Brogne,  56,  58,  168 
Gerard  de  Groote,  127,  128,  168 
General  Council  of  the  Low 

Countries,  261 
Germania,  Inferior,  30,  32,  34, 

40 

Germanic,  30,  32,  41 
Germanization,  42 
Gertrude,  of  Holland,  63 
Gezelle,  Guido,  339 
Ghent,  39,  76,  90,  114,  115,  116, 
128,   138,   143,   144,   148, 
180,   188,   202,   214,   217, 
243,  246,  257,  287,  323 
Belfry,  75,  112 
Churches,  75,  92,  133 
Halle,  112 
Industry,     165,     216,     217, 

276,  282,  321 
Pacification      of,      189-92, 

196,  197,  207 
Revolt,  156 
Statues,  332,  333 
Treaty,  155 

University,  282,  340,  345 
Giles  de  Binche,  130 
Gilsoul,  336 
Gislebert,  53 
Gladstone,  308 
Godfrey,  of  Bouillon,   59,   64, 

89,  95.  348 

Godfrey  of  Verdun,  55 
Godfrey  the  Bearded,  55 
Godfrey  the  Hunchback,  58 
Golden  Fleece,  Order  of,   107, 

218 
Golden    Spurs,    Battle   of,    see 

Courtrai 

Gorcum,  185,  189 
Grand  Alliance,  241 


INDEX 


353 


Granvelle,  Bishop  of  Arras,  175, 

176 

Gravelines,  174 
Great  Privilege,  141,  144,  252, 

258 
Guilds,  71,   137,    156,    163-66, 

167 
Guinegate,  143,  149 

Hague,  The,  288 

Treaty  of  the,  266,  271,  272 
Halles,  72,  ii2,  113,  116,  121, 

137 
Hansa,  Hanseatic,  77,  82,  121, 

152 
Hapsburg,  141,  142,  143,  148, 

158,   159,   173,  210,  242, 

251.  254 

Hennequin  of  Liege,   137,   138 
Henry  III,  Duke  of  Brabant,  97 
Hoffmann,  Melchior,  171 
Horn,  Count  of,  175,  176,  184, 

333 

H6tel  de  Ville,  see  Town  Halls 
Huguenot,  179,  185 
Humanism,  169,  170,  175,  224 
Hundred  Years'  War,  85 
Huy,  92,  217,  243 

Iconclasts,   168,  180,  181.  184, 

189,  198 
Industry,  78,  85,  128,  165,  167, 

214,  216,  217,  247,   276, 

283,  321,  323 
China,  247 
Cloth,  45,  70,  86,  116,  117, 

121,  146,  164,  216 
Coal,  166,  216,  247,  282 
Copper-working,  216 
Distilling,  217 
Dyeing,  216 
Glass,  217,  321 
Lacemaking,  217,  247 
Linen,  117,  165,  216,  247 
Metal  and  Mining,  71,  166, 

167,  216,  217,  282,   321, 

322 

Papermaking,  217 
Spinning,  276,  321 
Silk,  217 

Tapestry,     117,     165,     177, 
216,  247 


Industry — Wool,  32,  48, 70,  74, 
80,  83,  87,  116,  117,  216 

247 
Inquisition,  171,  172,  177,  178, 

180,  181,  208,  256 
Invasion — 

Frankisb,  33,  34,  35 
German,  342 
Norman,  50 
Investitures,    Struggle   of,    58, 

66,  103 

Isabella,  Archduchess,  139,152, 
204,  206,  208,  211,  212, 
217,  218,  228 
Italianizants,  222,  223,  229 

Jemappes,  269 

Jesuits,  221,  223,  224,  225,  226, 

227,  250 
John   the   Fearless,    104,    105, 

126 

John  I  of  Brabant,  82 
John  IV  of  Brabant,  105 
Jordaens,    Jacques,    228,    229, 

258,  338 
Joseph  II,  152,  253,  254,  255, 

256,  258,  259,  260,  261. 

262,  263,  264,  265,  268, 

272,  282,  286,  288.  291 
Josquin  des  Pres,  130 
Joyous  Entry  of  Brabant,  84. 

M5,   155.  258,  263,  271, 

291 
Justice,  125,  208,  250,  261,  2715, 

277.  332 

Kermesses,  258,  261 

La  Brielle,  185 
Laermans,  Eugene,  335 
Lalaing,  Count  of,  193 
Lalaing,  J.  de,  234 
Lambeaux,  333 
Lambermont,  Baron,  322 
Lambert  d'Ardres,  97 
Lambert  le  Begue,  90 
Lambert  of  Louvain,  55 
Language  limit,  34,  35,  36,  42. 
126, 287(5*0  Bilingualism) 
League  of  Nations,  347 
Lebeau,  291 


354 


BELGIUM 


Le  Bel,  Jean,  129 
Leipzig,  Battle  of,  277 
Lemaire,  Jean,  129 
Lemonnier,  Camille,  337 
Leopold  II  of  Austria,  266,  268 
Leopold  I  of  Belgium,  293,  294, 

295,  302,  310,  324 
Leopold  II    of    Belgium,    266, 

268,  310,  311,  312,  318, 

324-30 

Leys,  Henri,  334 
Liege,  43,  44,  54,  91,  92,  95, 

166,   167,  210,  217,  243, 

282,  311,  321,  342 
Bishopric,  38,   40,    54,   57 

88,  105,  173 
University,  282 
Lille,  90,  97,  165,  195,  214,  216, 

238 
Limburg,  295,  296,   297,  299, 

300 

Lipsius,  Justus,  224 
Literature,  97,  98,  99,  100,  101, 

124,   125,   126,   127,  128, 

129,  131,  226,  227,  331, 

336,  337.  338,  339 
Lotharingia,    48,    52,    55,    58, 

103,  109 
Lotharius  I,  48 
Lotharius  II,  48,  50 
Louis,  Buonaparte,  275 
Louis  the  Germanic,  48 
Louis  de  Male,  87,  104,  137 
Louis  Philippe  D'Orleans,  286, 

293,  294 
Louis  XIII,  210 
Louis  XIV,  235,  237-41 
Louis  XVI,  259,  268 
Louvain,    74,    132,     165,    169, 

184,  224,  235,  251,  295, 

343 

Town  Hall,  112,  113,  124 
University,   117,   223,   250, 

263,  282 
Luther,  Lutheranism,  168,  169, 

170,  171,  179 

Luxemburg,  239,  292,  295,  296, 
297,  209," 300,  3oi,_3pj5^ 

Mabuse  (Jean  Gossaert),  222 
Madrid,   173 

Treaty  of,  151,  158 


Maeseyck,  138 

Maestricht,  55,  210,  211,  234, 
248,  271,  282,  292,  295, 
296 

Bishopric,  38 
Fall  of,  200 

Maeterlinck,  Maurice,  337 
Malcontents,  194,  195,  200,  203 
Malines,  93,  117,  145,  148,  153, 

176,  187,  203,  216,  252, 
263,  320,  332 

Malplaquet,  241 

Manicheans,  89 

Mansfeld,  Count  of,  181,  188 

Margaret  of  Austria,  143,  147, 
148,  149,  150,  151,  152, 
J53.  154,  155.  206,  222, 
332 

Marguerite  of  Parma,  175,  176, 

177,  178,  180,  181,  184 
Maria  Theresa,  246,  247,  250, 

251,  253,  257,  258,  259, 
260,  266 

Marie  d'Oignies,  90 

Marlborough,  Duke  of,  240, 
241,  242 

Marnix,  de,  177,  181,  183,  203 

Mary  of  Burgundy,  140,  141, 
142,  143,  144,  153,  252, 
258 

Mary  of  Hungary,  155,  156, 
157,  169,  222 

Massys,  J.,  222 

Matsys,  Quentin,  229 

Matthias,  Archduke,  193 

Maximilian  122,  141,  142,  143, 
144,  145,  147,  149,  150, 
I53»  I74»  I%4-  187,  288 

Maximilian  II,  205 

Maximilian  Emmanuel  of  Ba- 
varia, 240,  241,  243,  252 

Mazarin,  235 

Memling,  131,  139,  226,  338 

Menapii,  32,  40,  45 

Mendicant  Orders — 
Franciscans,  89 
Dominicans,  89 

Merchant  Adventurers,  121 

Merovingian  dynasty,  41,  42 

Meunier,  Constantin,  334 

Molinet,  Jean,  129 

Monarchomaques,  192,  219 


INDEX 


355 


Monasteries,  39,  42,  44,  45,  54, 
56,  57,  94,  128,  180 

Mons,  185,  269,  321 

Monstrelet,  129 

Morel,  329,  330 

Moresnet,  166 

Morini,  40 

Mousket,  Philippe,  98 

Muhlberg,  159 

Munster,  171,  172 

Treaty  of,    235,    236,    237, 
243, 246, 271, 272, 289,296 

Music,  124,  130,  133 

Namur,  191,  216,  239,  311,  345 
Nancy,  140 

Napoleon  I,  275,  276,  277 
Napoleon  III,   305,   306,   307, 

308 

Nassau,  150 
Nassau,    Frederick   Henry  of, 

210 
Nassau,  Louis  of,  178,  181,  184, 

185,  187 
Nassau,  Maurice  of,  204,  205, 

209,  215 

Nassau,  William  of,  see  Orange 
National  Congress,  287 
Navigation  and  harbours,  115, 

1 20,   121,  209,  217,  276, 

323.  324 

Neerwinden,  239,  271 
Neny,  Count  de,  250 
Nervii.  40 
Neustria,  41 

Neutrality,  293,  299-314,  316 
Nieuport,  209,  216 
Nivardus,  99 
Nivelles,  90,  91 
Normans,  45,  50 
Notger,  54 
Nothomb,  297 
Noyon — 

Bishopric,  38,  40 

Treaty  of,  1 50 
Nymegen,  Treaty  of,  238 

Ockeghem,  Jean,  130 
Orange,  House  of,  200 
Orange,  William  of  (the  Silent), 
175.     i76.     181.     184-8, 

190-5.    197.    200-3 


Orange,  William  III  of  England, 

238,  239,  241 

Orange,  William  I  of  the 
Netherlands,  278,  281, 
282,  283,  287,  288,  289, 
292,  296,  322 

Ostend,  216,  217,  248,  249,  276 
Company,  245,  246 
Siege  of,  209 
Otto,  54 
Oudenarde,  90,  124,  165,  180 

216,  238 
Battle  of,  241 

Party- 
Catholic,  284,  285,  315,  317, 

3i8,  319 
Labour,  319 
Liberal,  285,  315,  317,  318, 

319 

Liberal  Catholic,  317 
Peter  the  Hermit,  89 
Philip  the  Bold,  104,  117,  132, 

138 
Philip  the  Good,  105,  106,  no, 

114,  115,  123,  126,  131. 

132,  139,   140,  145,   176, 

280,  302 
Philip  I  (the  Handsome),  143. 

144,  145.  146,  147,  148, 

160,  197,  207 
Philip  II,  152,  157,  160,  161, 

174.  175,  176,  177,   178, 

183,  184,  187,   188,  190, 

193,  200,  204,  205,  218, 

254,  288 
Philip  III,  209 

Philip  IV,  209,  212,  236,  237 
Pichegru,  271 
Pieter  Christus,  1 39 
Pillnitz,  Declaration  of,  268 
Placards,   171,    172,    176,    178. 

189.  208 
Plessiz-lez-Tours,     Treaty    of, 

200.  201 
Poelaert,  332 
Pol  de  Limburg.  138 
Population,  116,  121,  122,  123, 

214.  246.  324 
Pragmatic  Sanction,  159,    160 

246 
Pri<S  Marquis  dr.  252 


3  56  BELGIUM 

Printing,  128,  169 
Protestantism,    177,    179,    180, 

201,  203,  207,  208,  219, 

224,  260 
Pyrenees,  Treaty  of  the,  236, 

237 


Races,  35 

Radewyn,  Florent,  128 

Ramiliies,  241 

Rastadt,  Treaty  of,  242 

Ratisbon,  Truce  of,  239 

Recollets,  220,  227 

Reformation,    172,    173,    180, 

iSl,   221 

Gaunter,  222,  227 
R6gner  of  Hainault,  55 
Regner,  Long  Neck,  53,  59 
Reichenbach,    Convention    of, 

267 
Renaissance,  114, 130, 135, 164, 

167,  221,  224,  336,  339 
Renesse,  Ren6  de,  210 
Requesens,  Louis  de  Zuniga  y, 

187,  188,  190 
Revolution — 

Braban9onne, 212, 252,  265, 
274,  279 

French,  256,  263-78 

1830,  286,  289,  331 
Richelieu,  210,  234,  235 
Richilda  of  Hainault,  62 
Risquons  Tout,  305 
Robert  the  Frisian,  63 
Robert  II,  64,  89 
Rogier,  305,  320 
Rolin,  Chancellor,  131,  139 
Roman  Conquest,  29 
Roman  Culture,  31,  32 
Romanization,  42 
Roman  Road,  31,  33 
Rubens,  139,  221,  222,  225,  228, 

229,  333.  334 
Ruremonde,  210 
Ruysbroeck,  Jean  de,  124 
Ruysbroeck,  Jan,  127 
Ryswyck,  Peace  of,  240 

St.  Amand,  37,  38,  39 
Schools  of,  43 
Monastery  of,  94 


St.  Bartholomew,  Massacre  of, 

185 

St.  Eloi,  39 
St.  Hubert,  39 
St.  Lambert,  39 
St.  Omer,  141,  216 
St.  Quentin,  174 
St.  Remacle,  39 
St.  Ursula,  226 
Saxons,  33 
Scrap  of  Paper,  see  Treaty  of 

XXIV  Articles 
Sedan,  309 

Senlis,  Nicolas  de,  98 
Peace  of,  144,  146 
Silva     Carbonaria,     see     Coal 

Wood 

Sluis,  163,  215 
Sluter,  Claus,  137,  138 
Smits,  Jacob,  325 
Spanish  Fury,  189 
Spanish  Succession,  War  of  the, 

241 
Spinola,    Ambrose,    209,    210, 

215 

States  General,  146,  148,  152, 

155,  156,  157,  160,  182, 

187,   188,   191,   197,  200, 

201,    208,    211,    212,    2l8, 

265,  281 

Sustershuysen,  127 
Stevens,  Joseph,  335 

Talleyrand,  294 
Teniers,  258,  335 
Terouanne,  bishopric,  40 
Thierry,  Bouts,  see  Bouts 
Thierry  Maertens,  128,  169 
Thierry  of  Alsace,  see  Alsace 
Thierry  of  St.  Trond,  94 
Thiois,  40,  41,  42,  95 
Thirty  Years'  War,   218,   231, 

234 
Tongres,  332 

Bishopric,  32,  38,  39,  44 
Tournai,  91,  92,  93,  97,   117, 

138,   151,   165,  201,  216, 

238,  242,  247 
Bishopric,  32,  38,  176 
Frankish  Capital,  33 
Belfry,  75 
Siege  of,  86 


INDEX 


357 


Tournai — Taking  of,  149 

Tournaisis,  158 

Town  Halls,  112,  113,  116,  124, 

137.  332.  334 
Toxandria,  33 
Trade,  45,  63,  68,  69,  70,  74,  76, 

77,  78,  82,  83,  113,  115, 

Il6,     117,     120,    121,     146, 

163,  164,  167,   168,   185, 

186,  192,  206,  209,  215, 

216,  218,  233,  245,  246, 

249,  276,  279,  283,  322, 

323 

Trafalgar,  Battle  of,  276 
Transaction  of  Augsburg,  159 
Transport,  217,  320,  321 
Treaty  of  XVIII  Articles,  291, 

294 
of  XXIV  Articles,  291,  295, 

298,  301,  303,  307,  308 
Treves,  bishopric,  32 
Triple  Alliance,  238,  264,  266 
Triplice,  310 
Turenne,  235 

Unity,  national,  35,  36,  40,  41, 
42,  45,  48,  49,  56,  68, 
79,  80,  102,  103,  105,  106, 
153,  160,  173,  182,  183, 
189,  198,  202,  203,  280, 

34°.  343-7 

Universities,  117,  128,  223,  340 

Utrecht,  158 

Bishopric,  41,  57,  176 
Treaty  of,  240,  241,  243 
Union  of,  199,  200 

Valenciennes,  61.  97,  141,  183, 

185,   195.   198,  216 
Jean  de.  124 
Van  Artevelde,  Jacques,  86,  87, 

333 

Van  der  Goes,  Hughes,  139 
Van  der  Linden,  345 
Van  der  Noot,  262-6,  286 
Van  der  Stappen,  333 
Van  der  Weyden.  131,  136,  221 
Van  de  Weyer,  291 
Van  Dyck,  228,  229 


Van  Eyck,  131,  133,  135,  136, 
138,  139,  221,  222,  257 
Van  Ghent,  Justus,  139 
Van  Helmont,  224 
Van  Josse,  222 
Van    Maerlant,   99,    100,    101, 

125,  126,  127 
Van  Thienen,  124 
Veldener,  Jean,  169 
Venloo,  210,  243,  271 

Treaty  of,  157 
Verdun — 

Treaty,  48 

Second  Treaty,  52,  55 
Verhaeren,  Emile,  337 
Versailles,  Treaty  of,  347 
Verw6e,  336 
Vienna — 

Congress  of,  278,  279,  288, 
322,  343 

Treaty  of,  279,  292,  295 
Viglius  d'Ayetta,  175,  188 
Voltaire,  249,  317 
Von  Bissing,  343,  344,  345 
Vonck,    Vonckists,    262,    263, 
264,  265,  268,  269,  286, 
315.  342 

Wala,  34,  40,  41 

Walloon  League,  210 

Walloons,  34,  42,  48,  85 

Wappers,  G.,  334 

War  of  the  Peasants,  274,  275, 

304 

Waterloo,  Battle  of,  277 
Willem,  99,  100 
Willems,  Jan  Frans,  339 
William  II  of  Germany.  312, 

3U 
Woeringen,  Battle  of,  82 

Ypres,  87,  90,  92,  ii2,  113,  115, 

116,  180,  202,  217,  242 
Yser,  Battle  of  the,  342,  343 

Zeebrugge  Canal,  324 
Zutphen,  157,  158,  187 
Zwyn,  1 15,  120,  163 


Printed  m  Great  Britain  by 

CNTWIN  BROTHERS,  LIMITED 

•WOKDJG  AND  LONDON 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY,  LOS  ANGELES 

COLLEGE  LIBRARY 

f  This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


01970 


e**crw 


6  JW '83  .140 


REC'D  CL  NOV    6  '8c 


Book  Slip-25m-7,'61(Cl437s4)42SO 


UCLA-Cdleg*  Library 

DH523C14 


L  005  668  255  2 


lege 
rarv 


H 
23 


A     001  019456     1 


